Something about Surprises
by Maddsox
Summary: Dr Trinity Taylor thought her life was perfectly normal. Until someone causes her to pop up on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar. Now her life is a tumult of surprises and missions. Contains all Avengers and some OCs.
1. Briefing

**Hey, so this is the first one of these we have done so I hope you enjoy it. The genres are Romance and Humor, and they aren't in this one but rest assured, they will be in future chapters.**

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.

Briefing:

"I've got a new mission for you," Director Fury announced as he strode to the top of the meeting room table. "As you are aware, Agent Romanoff is on a deep cover mission concerning a new threat that popped up on our radar."

"Great, so does Ninja Barbie need any help, because I am on a tight schedule." Tony Stark chipped in from the other end of the table.

"Unfortunately this mission requires a particular skills set which you possess."

"Okay, I'll consider it. If this is a solo mission, why are godlylocks and Captain Star Shield here too?" Stark said, pointing his thumb towards Thor and Steve Rodgers at the opposite side of the table.

"Because they may also be needed on this mission."

"Yeah, that's not going to work for me. The Avengers deal was fun and all, but I don't play well with others – no offence Hammertime, you seem okay."

Director Fury just rolled his eye and pointed at a screen behind him. There was a Woman in her early twenties with dark brown-red hair in a lab coat. The biography that popped up next to it told the men that she was some sort of prodigy, who studied neuroscience at UCL and was now giving lectures to top research and hospital fellows.

"Alright, I am now okay with this mission," Stark declared, once looking her over one time too many. "Wait what is the mission?"

"Who is the Dame?" Steve asks, talking for the first time.

Tony rolled his eyes, 'we call them girls, ladies or chicks here not _dames_.'

"Dr Trinity Taylor is in very real danger, she is the newest target of this man." Fury pointed to the screen again where a mugshot of a man took the place of the woman "According to Intel from agent Romanoff, this man is planning to abduct her and use her for something."

"Besides her stellar looks and education, what is so special about her?"

"That is what S.H.I.E.L.D. would very much like to find out."

"So why are we required for this task?" Boomed Thor, who was looking intently at the images on the screen.

"Fredrick Finch, code name the Flyer, is a mutant with the ability to fly. That is why I requested you and Tony to go on this mission, Steve is going in the hope that some semblance of teamwork can be maintained."

"Right, capture freak flyer over there and bring him and Dr Sexy back to the helicarrier?" Tony summarised looking up at Fury's glaring eye.

"Yes, then, hopefully Banner will be able to run some tests on her to see why she is so necessary to any plans Finch may have."

"All right team, let's suit up!" Steve said enthusiastically, grinning at Thor and Tony who just rolled his eyes and walked out.


	2. Enter Dr Trinity

******Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Enter Dr Trinity:**

Trinity was in her apartment, running late. She was supposed to be halfway to the university where she was giving a lecture about her new advances in Neuroscience. She had lost her keys, again. She was searching so frantically that she didn't even hear the telltale click of her door being opened. But, that didn't mean that she couldn't feel the metal against the base of her neck as the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against her. Nor did it mean she didn't hear the menacing tick as the safety was clicked off.

"Dr Taylor, what a pleasant surprise. We are going to leave your apartment now and walk up the stairs together to the roof where we will take a little trip. Do you understand?" The cold voice sounded in her ear sending chills down her spine, and not the good kind.

Trinity nodded slowly, turned and walked robotically to the fire escape steps up to the roof, weighing her options in her head. She couldn't kick him out of the way because the gun might go off. She wanted to know why she was being taken, where she was going and who was holding a gun to her head. Trinity waited till they were on the roof then asked,

"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" Her voice was surprisingly strong.

''Well really, you mean you don't know who I am? Or should I say what I am." His voice hissed in her ear as he spun the doctor to face him.

His blond hair was gelled back; his eyes were sunk into a skeletal face yet still managed to be piercing as he scowled at her.

"What are you then?"

"You really have no idea do you?" He threw back his head and laughed almost maniacally and then suddenly his head snapped up as he heard something behind him.

She turned too, hearing what sounded like the rotations of a helicopter's blades but smaller. Then a giant man with long blond hair, red cape and a-a hammer? Landed on the roof across from them. It became evident that the chopping noise came from his hammer as he stopped rotating it above his head. Then behind him Iron Man flew up and landed with a loud thunk on the tarmac of the roof. As if this wasn't enough, the doors behind them burst open and Trinity was looking at a buff man in a stars and stripes unitard. This was just too many surprises for one day. She saw Iron Man lift his arm and a pulse of white light come from his palm and hit the man who had been holding her at gunpoint and watched as he crumpled in between them.

"Ma'am, we are here to…" The man in the unitard's words were cut off as Trinity crumpled just as swiftly as the blond man did.

"Dibs on the doctor" said Stark as he ambled over and picked her up, Thor and Captain America looked at each other and sighed.


	3. Enter Lola

******Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.  
Lola and Trinity are original characters. **

**Enter Lola: **

Bruce Banner, Clint Barton and Lola Rowes were in the common room aboard the Helicarrier, the flying aircraft carrier, which was the base of S.H.E.I.L.D. Lola had started off as an intern for Stark industries after graduating MIT. Pepper, having seen how useful she was around the office, promoted her. Since then she never left, choosing instead to be what she liked to call: The comic relief for the Avengers. And what they liked to call: A pest (one who happened to make good coffee and was surprisingly handy with technology).

"Hey Hawkeye, do you miss Natasha now she is under cover somewhere?" Lola's voice came out of the comfortable silence that had grown between the trio.

"Lola, she is my partner not my girlfriend." Hawkeye sighed, glancing over at the blond girl who was lying on the floor.

"Yeah, but when you see her, do your knees quiver?" She says, barely containing her mirth. Banner just shook his head in mild amusement.

"Oh, your wit astounds us all Lola…"

"Hey, I'm sorry, don't get your feather's ruffled, you're just such an easy target." And with that she was rolling on the floor laughing.

"Lola, why are you on the floor… again?" Bruce asked in a mild voice.

"So when I want to roll on the floor laughing it's much more dramatic." Lola explained, getting up and plopping herself down on the couch. "When do you think Stark, Thor and Steve are coming back?"

"Soon, I should think, it wasn't a hard job." Bruce answered, looking at his battered wristwatch.

Right on cue, the door hissed open and Tony strutted in looking immensely proud of himself, followed by Captain America and Thor, who was carrying a lady who was obviously passed out in his arms.

"I thought you were only supposed to knock out that freaky flying dude, Tony, not her too." Lola said, glancing at the lady who was now placed on a sofa in front of her.

"Yeah, she fainted." Tony smirked, "I guess the shock of seeing such a sexy hero was too much for her and she was overcome with amazement."

"Yeah, seeing Captain America is quite a heady thing," Lola replied cheekily, grinning at Stark's gaping mouth.

"Aren't you supposed to be here to get us coffee and wait on our every whim?" he scowled back at her.

She poked her tongue out at him but stood up nonetheless. "Who wants coffee or tea? Thor, doth you require sustenance?"

"Coffee, two sugars no milk" came Stark's reply

"I would like a Chamomile tea please Lo." Banner chipped in, smiling gratefully.

"Coffee, black, no sugar." Barton's contribution was just like him, short and to the point.

Thor tilted his head thoughtfully and said "I have need of some coffee with a lot of sugar please!"

"Should I get her anything?" Lola asked pointing her thumb at the lady on the couch.

"Nah, we haven't decided if we are going to keep her yet, no point wasting a good cup of coffee or tea on her."

"Alrighty" Lola said as she skipped out of the room.

"She is beginning to grow on me" Banner commented once she had left the room.

"Yeah, like a blister you can't get rid of…" came Barton's dry response.

"There is a certain lightness and gaiety about her, I like it!" Thor declared, looking pleased with himself.

"Back to the problem, what are we going to do with Doctor Trinity over here?" Steve asked looking at the woman on the sofa.

All five men seemed to ponder this. Then as if then woman felt their intense stares, she began to stir under the weight of their gazes.

**Please review! I finally get why people say it after their stories. I would like to know any criticisms and ANY good things you have to say about it, in general... I said I wouldn't grovel but... You know that you have something to say... I will leave it at that...**


	4. Blood Tests

**********Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.  
Lola and Trinity are original characters.**

**Blood Tests: Trinity's POV:**

I stirred, and as I awoke I was aware of five pairs of eyes staring at me intently. I recognized three of them as the ones who saved me earlier. The other two were unfamiliar.

"Where am I?" I asked as my brain finally caught up to the events of earlier in the day.

"Well that was a disappointingly unoriginal first question." Says a man with dark hair and a goatee. A man I recognized from countless articles and talk shows as being Tony Stark the Billionaire, who also happened to be Iron Man.

"What my esteemed friend is trying to say is, you are safe now milady." A man with a deep voice who I recognized from the rooftop informs me smiling slightly.

"Who was that man? He kept saying you don't know what you are. Not who, what. Do you know what I am, or why he wanted me?" I asked looking around and taking in the five men in turn.

"Well we have a vague idea, but we need a blood sample from you to be sure." Said the other man with dark hair, who looked oddly misplaced amongst this group of people. I knew I recognized him from somewhere but my mind was already in overdrive, attempting to process the events of the day to think of where.

"Ow!" I exclaimed – more out of shock than pain – feeling a sharp jab in my finger.

"Sorry Doc." Tony said unapologetically as he took the device which had just drawn a sample of blood from my finger and handed it to the man who had been talking previously.

"You could've just asked, I would have let you." I grumbled, narrowing my eyes slightly at the billionaire.

"Yeah but where is the fun in that? Live a little; you know what I'm saying? We already have one Doctor who is unwilling to take risks in his life, we sure as hell don't need another."

He directed his final jab at the man who looked out of place, and it finally clicked. He was Dr. Bruce Banner, the man whose knowledge in Gamma Radiation was unsurpassed and who also happened to be able to turn into a green giant – dubbed the Hulk.

"Stark, you know that there is a reason for that, no offence Dr. Banner." The man previously wearing the unitard spoke up and I recognized him as being Captain America. "Ma'am, I'm Steve Rodgers, and in answer to your first question as to where you are, well. You are in the Avengers base on board a flying aircraft carrier. Yeah, I found it hard to imagine too. We are the Avengers and the man who was attempting to kidnap you was a target of ours. As to why you were targeted, I'm sure Dr Banner will soon tell us."

I glanced over at Dr Banner who was bustling around in a mini lab area behind me and sighed. A few minutes later I heard the hiss of the door opening as a blonde girl shuffled in, holding a tray of drinks which wobbled precariously as she turned slowly, obviously trying not to spill them.

"Uh a little help guys! You have no idea how hard it is to get through S.H.I.E.L.D's fort knox worthy security while balancing a tray of seven drinks!"

"Lola, why do you have seven drinks when you shouldn't even have six?" Tony asked as he walked over and took two of the mugs off the tray and took a sip of one and took the other over to Banner.

"Well, I wasn't going to go through all the hassle of getting you guys one and not me! I also thought it might be nice if the lady wanted one too."

"Lola that was very considerate of you! Thank you." Boomed the blond man and took a massive mug in his hands and sipped it.

"Thanks Lo, you do make a good coffee." Steve said, taking his mug off of the tray, leaving three left. She walked over to the table and put the tray down, picking up hers and another one and walking over to me.

"Hi! I'm Lola, of course I know who you are, though you are much prettier in person." She bubbles, handing me a coffee, which is surprisingly good, and just what I needed.

"Umm, thanks, I guess." I mumble looking awkwardly into my mug, still baffled by the whole situation

"No problemo! Hey birdman, your coffee is on the table I hope it is okay, not all of us can be right on target." She says laughing for some unknown reason; he just rolls his eyes and scowls at her slightly. "So have you met everyone yet?"

"No, we didn't quite get to names yet, they just took my blood and went to work." I replied truthfully.

"Well, isn't that just typical. Let me be your guide.'' She smiled at me and I managed a small smile in return. "That is Thor, god of Thunder. He is from Asgard, another _realm_."

I looked over to where she was pointing and saw the man with a hammer and red cape. He was very muscley with blond hair, beard and a nice smile, not your typical alien.

"I'm sorry I didn't think of introducing myself. It is a pleasure to meet you." He said in a loud, deep voice.

"Yeah, and star spangled banner over there is Captain America, I'm sure you know all about him. You know, the one who was as good as a Popsicle for eons."

"Lola, is it really necessary to be so hyperbolic about things?" Steve sighed.

"Yep!" She grinned at him and turned to look at me, "Steve is the team leader. I'm glad we have you here; another girl will be nice, especially now that the widow is gone. Oh sorry Hawk, sore subject?"

"You know if you keep prodding him, he will just shoot you to be done with it." Banner called over from the lab. Lola shook her head and walked over to the man she had just been teasing.

"Chill, Barton knows I love him really." She said as she gives his arm a quick and surprisingly affectionate squeeze as she hands him his drink. "I'm sorry Clint, I get overexcited sometimes, you know I don't mean it."

He just looked at her and she smiled, "Look! I'm already getting better, I could have said that you are just an easy target but I didn't." He rolls his eyes but chuckles nonetheless and takes a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, yeah thanks for the drink, kid." He says, turning away and looking through the small window to his right.

"That is Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye due to his mad skill with the bow and arrow. So I think that's everyone, for now. What do you think?"

I honestly had no idea what to think, it was hard to think with a girl talking at me one hundred miles a minute, and telling me I sitting in a room full of superheroes and gods. All the new information was taking longer to process than usual, which was annoying but it was most likely because I had just met the Avengers, saviors of Manhattan and they were all just walking around large as life while I sat on their sofa reeling from the onslaught of information being thrown at me. So I did the only rational thing I could think of, I took a deep breath, and downed all my coffee at once, hoping it would give my brain a boost.

**Hope you enjoyed it, again PLEASE review it really gives me so much more motivation to write them. Speaking of motivation, thank you for all of the story favourites and story alerts, it is very exciting getting an email saying there has been an alert put on it!  
Thank you so much to:  
RosieBlooms: You are so sweet, thank you!**

**Kurounue13: I did! Thank you for reviewing!**

**Lolen Star: Thanks, I tried to make them funny, hope I succeeded.**


	5. Getting Down To Business

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the avengers.**

**Getting down to business: Lola:****  
**I watched as the other lady drank all of her coffee at once and smiled. Then she stood abruptly. She tied back her hair and her face turned to one of cool professionalism. She turned and walked to the back of the room to the small lab where Tony and Bruce were working.

"If you need to do a full check up you will need more than just a blood test. You will need my CT scans and most recent check up details. I keep them all on a laptop in my apartment. Is there some way we can get to them?" She asked the men, who looked slightly taken aback at her sudden composure.

"I can." I piped up from where I was sitting. I saw her raise an eyebrow incredulously. "Hey! I'll have you know that I'm not just another pretty face, I graduated first in my class, 3 years early from MIT for computer engineering."

"Alright then," she said and smiled. I knew then we would be friends.

I pushed Tony aside, ignoring his annoyed grunt and sat at the computer in front of him. The big screens came alive with numbers and files. I looked up her address and looked for the wireless transmitter coming from her laptop, efficiently hacking into her computer records and secure files so they were open in front of us all in about twenty seconds flat. I pushed away from the desk and flicked my hair over my shoulder and went to sit on the arm of Steve's chair.

"Alright thank you Lola, now if we need to figure out what I am, I'm guessing we need to look at my neurone transmissions and any odd mutations in my cellular DNA." Dr Trinity said, addressing Bruce mainly who looked impressed with her level of knowledge on the situation.

"Damn, she knows what she is talking about," I said quietly to Steve, watching as Dr Trinity went into some in depth conversation about DNA and cell structure and mutant strands.

"Yeah, I don't usually understand much these days but I do know when people are smart."

"But there is smart and there is genius, not hard to guess what category she falls under." I said under my breath, watching her work, putting her sample of blood under a microscope hooked up to a screen to examine it.

After about an hour of waiting around and watching Bruce and Trinity rush around the lab, I yawned and went to stand next to Clint, who hadn't moved since I gave him the coffee.

"Hey, have you seen anything interesting yet all seeing hawk?" I joked, nudging him with my elbow.

"Yes, it is getting late and you are getting bored." Came his reply.

"How did you know I was getting bored?" I asked, frowning.

"Because you are bothering me." I rolled my eyes, but realized he was right, it was late and I was bored.

"Hey Cap, it is getting late." I say as I sidled up to his chair, "Where is Trinity staying?"

"There is a room next to yours I was going to give her. She should probably get some rest; it must have been a big shock to hear all this in one day. It is a miracle she is still standing, let alone working to such a high standard." With that he stood and walked over to the lab. "Ma'am, it is getting late and I think it would be best if you got a good nights sleep."

"He's right." Bruce said looking up from his work, "The results will be ready by tomorrow and it may be even more of a surprise."

She agreed and from the slight sag in her shoulders, I could tell she was relieved and tired too. Steve escorted her out to her room about five minutes away. When she left we all turned to each other.

"Well she is definitely very capable." Bruce surmised.

''Yes, and she seems like a strong mortal!" Came Thor's input from across the room.

"No doubt she is smart, but what is her mutation that makes her so necessary to the Flyer's plans?" Tony questioned, "I mean, if he was kidnapping her because she is hot then that is understandable, but she seems normal."

"Normal? Who are we to judge who is and isn't normal?" I asked gesturing around at those of us left in the room. Banner tilted his head in acknowledgement of the point, so I carried on, "I think she would be a good addition, with or without mutation."

"Lola, go to bed and let the grownups talk about it." Said Tony condescendingly as I just rolled my eyes and sat on the sofa next to Thor.

"Young mortal, you do seem fatigued. You should retire to your chambers." Thor said to me in what was a quiet voice for him.

I stifled a yawn and nodded, walking out of the room now thinking of my bed. All of the results would be up tomorrow anyway.

**Thank you to everyone who is following this story, I get inordinately excited when I get an alert telling me someone has made this story a favorite! I also love getting reviews *Hint Hint***

foxonfire: Duly noted, I went through and fixed most of them. My computer does it automatically, thanks for pointing it out and taking time to comment! I'm glad you like it!  


**imaninja41: Not quite yet, but rest assured that it will be soon!**


	6. Sparring

**********Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Sparring: Trinity:**

I woke up in a strange, grey room in a bed that definitely wasn't my own. I sat bolt upright, panicking until I remembered the events of the previous afternoon and evening. I swung my legs out of bed and put on the clothes that had been left in the wardrobe for me; a set of grey tracksuit bottoms, white tank top and a soft black hoodie. No expense spared for me then, I thought to myself sarcastically as I pulled them on. Somehow they had trainers that were my size as well, creepy… I walked out into the hall before remembering that I had no idea where I was. I took this as an opportunity to explore. I walked down the corridor hearing a familiar thunk coming from one of the rooms. I pushed open the door and took in the scene and smiled. Since I was 5 the gym had been my second home, seeing one made me almost as happy as if I'd seen a lab. This one was kitted out with multiple punching bags, targets, dummies and a wall of mounted weapons. A fighting junkies crack. I looked and saw that the thunks and thwacks were coming from the man, Hawkeye was it, beating up a punching bag with such force it looked like it may break free from where it was bolted to the ceiling. I didn't want to disturb him so I walked over to a mat and began my stretches to get ready for a work out. I knew that was what I needed to focus my mind. After stretching I stood up and walked up to a punching bag of my own and started to lay into it, my hooks and jabs came faster and faster followed by a few high kicks and low sweeps, I hadn't had a hard work out in such a long time and I almost forgot where I was and why I was there.

After a while I became aware that the man had stopped and was watching me. I turned and faced him, really looking at him for the first time. He had short blond hair, huge biceps and hard grey eyes, which were looking at me as if appraising me. As if he was looking right through me.

"Want to spar with me?" I don't know what made me ask him, but I had always preferred fighting others in the gym to attacking punching bags. I knew as soon as I said it that it was a bad idea, this man could snap me like a twig, but it was too late to back down now. His eyebrow quirked up revealing his surprise for a second before he chuckled and walked over to the mat, not saying a word. I didn't bother hiding my surprise as I followed and got into position, trying not to look scared.

He struck first and I ducked while swinging with my right arm, hitting him in the ribs. I saw shock register briefly before a small grin replaced it. The fight became a dance of sorts, ducking, dodging and landing hits on each other but neither doing enough to knock the other to the ground. The feeling of triumph when I landed a hit was immense but blocked out a second later as he would get his revenge. It ended at a stalemate, with us both panting as we let the other go. I grinned and stuck out a hand, which he shook, looking at me with a look i couldn't quite read.

"Thanks, I needed to clear my mind." I told him truthfully

"Anytime. Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked, his question betraying his curiosity more than his voice did.

"My dad took me to my first karate class when I was 5 years old, I fell in love with it and went three times a week, I got my black belt when I was 11, after that I learnt other martial arts but karate was always my favorite, I still take a class once a week."

"Oh, that certainly isn't in your file." He said, shaking his head. I smirked and walked over to where I had thrown my sweatshirt and shoes. "The showers are over there by the way and when you are done I'm sure everyone will be here."

I didn't bother asking why they would be here, I just felt grateful that I could have a nice long shower and walked quickly in the direction he had pointed. I tried not to think about the imminent results but I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that whatever they said, I would never get my life back.

**Thank you so much for the alerts and favorites, it is very exciting to know that people are actually reading this! You all have Ali to thank for commenting and making me realize how long it is taking to find out Trinity's mutation! Sorry I didn't realize how prolonged the moment was, when we started I was still trying to get a feel for the characters. So this time you get two chapters and I promise that on Friday you will definitely find out what her 'power' is.  
**


	7. Results Are Out

**********Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Results are out: Hawkeye:**

After my sparring match with Trinity, I couldn't help but be impressed. She had surprised me when she started to lay into the punching bag but I didn't expect her to be that much of a challenge when sparring, not that I would ever tell her that. As I walked back to the lab I couldn't help but think that it was nice to have someone new around and if she happened to be extremely good-looking, that was fine by me. When I returned to the lab where Bruce, Tony and Lola were huddled over the results on a hand held tablet.

"Robin Hood! So glad you could join us, we were just looking over Doctor Genius's mutant cells." Stark said after glancing up and seeing it was me.

I just rolled my eyes; at least Lola's jokes were mildly amusing. Tony's were just insulting most of the time; the captain was the one who wore tights, not me.

"The Doctor is in the gym, I told her we would go tell her the results of the tests." Tony nodded and reached for the phone next to him, calling the captain and Thor to meet them in the training gym.

We all traipsed over there where we found Trinity sitting on one of the mats stretching, as soon as we walked in she hopped up and her shoulders tensed. Banner walked over to her and showed her the tablet and she nodded.

"So, you are basically saying you know I have a mutation, and it is strong…" She began,

"But we don't actually know what it is, nor can we isolate what part of the body controls it." Bruce finished.

"So what can we do to test what it is?" She voiced, trying to sound casual but her posture and tone were obviously apprehensive. I moved towards my bow and quiver of arrows, not particularly interested in the conversation, and was just strapping them to my back about to begin target training, when Rodgers called me over, saying I was part of the team and should be involved. As I slowly walked back to them, without putting my bow down in the hope I would get to shoot something after the discussion, I rolled my eyes at some of the suggestions.

"We could always drop her off a cliff to see if she would use it in self preservation." said Stark with a hopeful look in his eyes

"Or... We could give her an aptitude test of sorts, to see what powers she would be compatible with."

"I'd much rather have the tests." said Trinity looking gratefully towards Banner.

I didn't have much to contribute to this conversation and was itching to use my bow; it had been too long since I had used it. As the others continued to argue over what was the best option an idea popped into my head, I ambled away from the group and made sure nobody was watching. I then slowly drew an arrow from my quiver, raised my bow, and exhaled slowly. Before anyone looked over at me I shot my arrow at the Doctor's arm, knowing that if I had shot any higher it could have nicked her carotid artery and I didn't want to seriously hurt her, but I was an ace shot. I'm not being boastful, I'm the best. I was fully expecting the arrow to reach its target, I thought her mutation was probably being super brainy, the fact that she could understand any of Banners science babble suggested that, it always went right over my head. I may not be the brightest but I am rarely surprised by anything but Trinity managed to surprise me for the second time today and she was definitely more than just brainy.

**Hi! So as promised, a double hit today. Hawkeye was a struggle for me because he has a character which is hard to get a read on, hopefully I did him justice! Reviews are very much appreciated and I do listen to criticism! Worry not, her mutation will be revealed in the next chapter. Sorry for the cliff hanger MUHAHAHA, any guesses for what her mutation is? **


	8. Revelations

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Revelations: Trinity:**

As I stood in the training room discussing my results with Bruce, I was hyper-aware of everyone in the room. I could feel the glances thrown at me from Thor, Lola, Steve and Thor as they discussed a plan of action. I could sense when Clint lost interest and began inching towards his bow and started target practice. I even felt him turn and aim at me and I seemed to see the arrow flying towards me in slow motion. I turned impossibly fast and looked at Clint, seeing his grey eyes appraising me, seeing what I would do. All of this happened in a split second before the arrow just stopped, hovering in mid air, inches from my chest. I could practically hear everyone's mouths pop open, but not Clint's. He raised an eyebrow and smirked in my direction. That smirk did it. I was beyond furious.

"What the hell!" I shouted, startling everyone, "You could have just killed me with your stupid arrow!"

There was a prolonged moment of deafening silence as the rest of the group looked from me to the arrow that was still suspended in mid air. I snatched it and held it up pointing at Hawkeye.

"What if I couldn't stop it? What if that had got me in the arm or if I bent down at the wrong moment and it hit my carotid?"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see everyone backing swiftly out of the room. My attention was still riveted upon the archer who stood in front of me, his eyes unrepentant.

"I think you are missing the point." He said calmly, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Oh ha ha, very witty, William Tell." My voice dripped in sarcasm.

"No, I mean the point is that you stopped it. If you would just stop shouting for one second you would realise we just found your mutation."

It hit me then, and I gasped, looking at the arrow in my hand. I looked up at him in amazement and breathed "Telekinesis!"

I found myself grinning as I had a little kid moment where I realised how incredibly cool this power was.

"That is so awesome" I said, grinning at Clint, "I'm sorry, I usually don't shout at people."

"It's fine, between you, Natasha and Lola I'm getting used to it." He chuckled slightly at the grin on my face, "Want to test your powers?"

I looked up apprehensively, eyeing his bow and arrows. "I don't think so, not with those arrows anyway."

He chuckles again and it is a nice sound, low and calming. "I was thinking more along the lines of me throwing bean bags at you and you stopping them with your mind. Nothing as drastic as an arrow."

I raised an eyebrow, considering his idea. "All right, where should we do this?"

He led me over to the practice mat where we had sparred that morning, pointing at a spot and indicating with his head that I should sit down. I ignored him; I wasn't taking orders from him. I just crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows staring at him defiantly. He held up his hands in mock defence, grinning slightly as he turned to go to a cupboard at the back of the room. He pulled out several mini beanbags and came to sit across from where I was still standing, indicating again that I should sit down. I rolled my eyes and set myself down across from him, only about a metre away.

"Okay so I am going to toss one at you and you are going to stop it before it hits the ground."

"Fine, but if you pummel them at me really fast, just know that when I do learn to harness my powers, you will be the first target. With your precious arrows." I said threateningly, he just rolled his eyes and grinned back.

He tossed the first one really high in the air, giving me a chance to concentrate on it as I watched it fall to the ground. I focused my attention on it, screwing up my face with the effort and saw it slow slightly before I was, rudely, interrupted from my concentrating by a laugh. I snapped my head in Hawkeye's direction to see him laughing at me.

"What?" I demanded indignantly.

"Nothing," he spluttered, "you just looked so constipated."

"Hey!" I protested, "That was my concentrating super hard face!"

"Well by all means carry on, don't let me bother you." He managed to choke out.

I was so surprised to see him laughing, he seemed like such a quiet, reserved guy. It put me off so the next couple he threw didn't do anything, no matter how hard I tried to focus.

"Okay," he said coming to sit directly in front of me, "close your eyes."

I knew this proximity, especially with my eyes closed, was not going to do me any favours. I did what I was told, for once, however and closed my eyes.

"Imagine your surroundings, sense where you are in relation to everything else in the world."

I did as he said, but I kept coming back to the fact that his face was about 30cm away from mine. Then I forced myself to focus, emptying my mind of everything except what I knew of my surroundings. I heard him stand up but kept my eyes closed. He walked backwards and stopped.

"Keep your eyes closed, I am going to throw this towards you and you are going to focus on stopping it."

"Uh, how do I break this to you, my eyes are _closed..._" I said rolling my closed eyes.

"Just sense it coming towards you and attempt to block it." Hearing my snort of disbelief he sighed, "Just try it."

I heard it leave his hand and felt it coming towards me, I focused on it and willed it to stop. After a few seconds of stillness I opened an eye and almost jumped. The beanbag was suspended two feet in front of me. I grinned and focused on it, it started moving towards me and I let my concentration go and it landed in my lap.

"Wow, that actually worked!" I grinned, attempting to ignore his smug smirk.

I started levitating the beanbag again; it was becoming easier now I knew what to focus on. I then had an evil thought and grinned.

"What?" He asked, his worry showing in his voice.

I started levitating all of the beanbags in his hands and laughed as his eyes went wide.

"Ever heard of payback?" I said, still smirking devilishly.

"Oh no…" he said, raising his hands and walking backwards

"Oh yes" I said fervently and started willing the beanbags to fly at him, hitting him over and over again, I laughed at his incredulity that these beanbags were attacking him. He started coming towards me and I laughed harder backing away as the beanbags followed him. Then he tackled me to the ground and the beanbags fell to the floor as my focus upon them broke. He was leaning over me, having just tackled me to the floor, I looked up at him, smiled and in one swift movement flipped us so I was straddling his chest, pinning his arms beneath my legs.

"Are you sorry, you shot me?" I asked hovering the beanbags around me for good measure.

"Nope, if I didn't we may not have known what your power was." He said, wrapping his legs around my arms lifting me over so I was pinned to the ground this time. "Surrender yet Doc?" He teased, his face about four inches away from mine. I could feel his breath and saw his eyes coming closer. I leaned in closer, taunting him slightly before flipping us over once more and getting up. Leaving him lying with his back on the mat.

"Not in this lifetime, Barton." I called over my shoulder as I sauntered out of the room swishing my hair over my shoulder as I opened the door. As it closed and I walk away I heard him laugh from inside the training room and smirk to myself.

**So a this is the longest chapter I have posted so far for you guys! As promised her 'powers' are revealed. What do you guys think? I love reviews, and thanks so much for all the favourite author, story and story alerts. I have said it before and I will say it again, it is always so exciting to get alerts about people reviewing and/or marking this as an alerted story! **

**aaroniteXkryptonite: Thanks for reviewing and yes there will be a few cliff hangers on the way, for I can be evil like that muhahahaha... But I do try to update regularly :).**

**Little Weasley Girl: Haha I know, but don't worry, it was the first but it certainly won't be the last cliff hanger! I'm glad you liked it!**

**Violist9295: I hoped you would like it! I know I loved yours, thanks for the review. **


	9. Tricks In The Lab

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

Tricks in the Lab: Trinity:

After the revelation of my new powers I explored the helicarrier. At least that is what I would say I was doing when, in actuality, I was lost. It was a big place and I wasn't concentrating on where I was going. I was still reeling from the revelation that I was telekinetic and my mind kept drifting to my play fight with Barton, I think I had enjoyed it too much for my own good. I soon realized I was completely lost and was about to start panicking when I found the common room area we were in yesterday. In it was Stark, working in his little computer area on who knows what, and Lola sitting on the sofa talking to Thor. I saw Thor was talking about something, his eyes sparkling as he talked, Lola was smiling and nodding along enthusiastically. I walked over and sat next to them, hoping Tony hadn't seen me come in so he wouldn't make any snide comments, which were his specialty.

"What's up Doc?" Lola asked, "I am so J-E-L of your powers by the way. Super cool, can you control them now? Also don't be too mad at Clint, we are trying to tame him, it is just taking longer than we thought."

I laughed at her earnest expression, "No, I'm not angry at Clint – anymore."

She looked relieved, "So can you control your powers yet?"

I raised my eyebrows and said in a low voice, "Let's test it shall we?"

Her eyes lit up and Thor looked amused. We all turned to look at Tony who had just moved some papers from his desk to a filing cabinet by the wall. I focused my mind and willed the cabinet to open and the files to come out, nothing happened at first and I could see Lola starting to look disappointed when they flew out and moved through the air placing themselves back on the table Tony had just moved them from. I turned and smirked at Lola and Thor who were obviously trying very hard not to laugh too loudly to draw attention. I stifled a laugh as Tony came back to his desk and looked completely baffled,

"What the hell, I just moved these!"

"Something the matter Tony?" I said innocently from my spot on the sofa, Stark ignored me and continued with his work after shaking his head a few times. I waited for him to walk back to the filing cabinet then moved his coffee to the other side of the area. Lola and Thor could barely contain their laughter. At this point, Lola was almost shaking. As a finishing touch, and to get him back for suggesting I be dropped off a cliff, as Tony pulled out his chair to sit down, I moved it back a bit further so he fell on the floor. This was the final straw for Lola who was on the floor laughing, struggling to breathe. Thor swiftly followed, chortling heartily as he would call it.

"What the?" Tony said standing up and brushing himself off, glaring in our direction, "Ah, Jean Grey, should've known… I see you have your powers under control…"

"It would seem so," chuckled Thor, regaining some of his control, "I think that was rather an entertaining interlude of festivities."

"Translation: That was freakin' hilarious!" Lola said, not quite as calmly as Thor, "You should have seen your face! Serves you right for wanting to throw her off of a bridge, or a cliff, or wherever!"

I smiled a bit at their amusement and couldn't help but be amazed at how easily I could control my new powers, it was as if the arrow had flicked a switch in my mind. I was grateful to Clint for helping me unlock my abilities but I would never tell him, just in case he decided to try again. I heard the door open and tensed as Fury strode in. On either side Clint and Steve walked in and Bruce came in behind him looking apprehensive. Lola sobered up quickly and looked worried as they all came to sit down around us, with Fury pacing in front of us.

"We have just interrogated the Flyer and found out that he has a safe house in Switzerland. I need you to go check it out. This place could be crawling with his people, so I need all of you to go and watch each other's backs. Lola will be on the computers here, monitoring your progress and alerting you if or when you get company. Trinity, I heard your mastery of your powers came on quickly," I shot a glance at Clint who avoided eye contact with me and merely nodded once, "I need you to go with the team, you may be of use."

I nodded and felt Lola's reassuring squeeze on my arm and gave her a small smile.

"Lola will get you your suit, and we will provide you with weapons. Lola is running this mission, so you all will defer to her."

She grinned at us and Steve nodded at her, "All righty Team! Go Suit up, it's one hell of a flight to Switzerland and I will be in your ear the whole time." She cackled as the rest of the team groaned good-naturedly. 'You know you love me really, and couldn't possibly go on with out me. Come on Doc, Tony and I made you a suit, let's go see if you like it."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room as the rest of the team began to filter out, going to gear up for the upcoming mission. I was excited to see my suit but seeing as Tony had made it, doubted how practical it was going to be for a fight.

**Hey, just a bit of fun in this chapter before we get to the heavier action scenes coming up. Hope you liked it, reviews are much loved and appreciated!  
**

**Little Weasley Girl: Haha, I like your thinking. It would be funny if it did, I wonder how he would react to that! Thanks for all of your reviews!  
**

**Imaninja41: I know, I love those two, they will/should have more scenes together later on... maybe... we shall see! **


	10. Suiting Up

******************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Suiting Up: Trinity:**

Lola dragged me around the corner to a room I'd never been in. It seemed to be one of many arsenals, which they seemed to accumulate on board the helicarrier. Each of these rooms contained top of the line everything, I knew this from my brief stint of 'exploring' earlier. There were pistols, rifles, bow and arrows, throwing knives, and grenades. In short, every weapon you could possibly desire, enough of them to keep a revolution going for about a year. Lola must have placed my suit in the room earlier in the day when I was sparring with Clint.

"I helped Tony design it." She was saying as she walked over to the bag hanging in the corner, "You are so lucky I stepped in, he was going to go all Vegas performer on it, you know – feathers, sequins – the whole shebang."

"Yes subtlety is definitely his strong suit." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes just imagining the type of thing Tony would put me in.

I watched Lola as she walked over and unzipped one of the two hanging garment bags on one of the walls.

"Who is the other one for" I asked Lola, pointing to the other bag.

"Oh, that's Natasha's spare, she's on a mission at the moment, its deep cover so she most likely won't be back for a while" Lola replied without looking at me.

"Natasha?"

"Oh yeah, she's another Avenger, she used to be an evil assassin but now she's on our side. I'm sure you'll love her, probably, maybe." Lola seemed to contemplate this for a moment.

I didn't press the subject partly because I was unnerved by the probably that I may not like her, but mostly because I wanted to see my suit. After a short pause, Lola handed it to me smiling. She laughed at my dubious expression and turned to the wall of weapons, most likely to give me some privacy to change.

I quickly pulled it on. It was a skin-tight cat suit, but it was surprisingly easy to move in and not at all uncomfortable. It was a dark bluey-purple colour, which seemed to be quite mysterious and suited my skin tone. I turned and looked in the full-length mirror in front of me, I rotated on the spot, catching a glimpse of a trinity knot emblazoned in silver on my back. I grinned at the patronage to my name, only Tony and Lola would have thought of that. I turned and sighed as I saw what shoes I had to put on. The boots were knee high and were akin to a more fitted combat boot. The problem was the laces had to be laced from the bottom to the top of the boot. I started the long task of lacing them up, aware of Lola gathering weapons and fitting them into a belt she held draped across her arms. I finished tying the laces and stood up, Lola then spun around to face me, belt in hand.

"Dayum Taylor, you got some curves under whatever you were wearing before." She said whistling appreciatively. She grinned when I blushed slightly.

"Do you think it is too much?" I asked, smoothing my hands down my legs self-consciously, I wasn't used to wearing skin tight clothes and this suit left little to the imagination.

She shook her head and handed me the belt she had just filled. I strapped it on.

"Alright Doc" she laughed, looking me up and down, "so I got you out a belt and filled it with a small knife and put a gun in the holster. I put some spare clips in the small pouches in the belt too."

"I don't know how to use a gun, well not accurately anyway." I said, looking at it in the holster, nervous for the first time.

"I figured, don't worry they are just precautions. You probably won't have to use them. Now, here are the weapons, literally anything is at your disposal. Even Nunchucks if that's how you roll."

"Hey!" I protested, "When Bruce Lee used them, Nunchucks where cool, I've actually always wanted to use them"

"Alright then, let's give you some Nunchucks, every little helps I guess…" she said and, before I could stop her, she had grabbed a leg strap and attached it to my thigh, slipping the Nunchucks into place.

"Thanks." I said, actually excited about the prospect of maybe using them.

"Okay so I was thinking you would be more useful using weapons on this side." Lola said as she led me over to the wall filled with throwing knives and Shuriken – the throwing stars. "I figure that they are small, so it is easier to focus your mind on so you can use your powers to use them."

This was true, the smaller the object was the easier it would be to maneuver and focus on. When I nodded she grabbed a belt, which they went in, and I it draped across my body, she then gave me a second one so they crossed and we stuffed them full of the throwing stars.

"How do I look?" I asked giving a spin.

"Like Xena warrior princess," She teased and then, seriously "you can move around and it is comfortable right, because if you get there and can't fight then we could be in trouble."

I looked at her then, with such a serious expression on her face and realized that behind all of her jokes and bravado, there was a part of her that really worried about her team. I just nodded and she smiled and led me out of the room. She reached into her pocket and grabbed an earpiece and handed it to me.

"I will be in your ear the whole time, if you need anything just say because I can hear you."

"Thank you, for everything." I said sincerely.

"Aw, don't mention it." She brushed off my thanks with a grin.

"Lola, why are you really here with the Avengers?" I asked, stopping her in the hallway. "Don't you have friends or family down in the normal civilian world?"

She gave me a sad smile, "I was brought up by my mom, I never knew my dad and to be honest, I never wanted to. How good could he have been if he left me and my mom for my whole life? My mom meant the world to me but she died when I was 16. A couple months later I got an early acceptance into MIT. I knew that is what my mom would have wanted so I went, graduated early and ended up at Stark Industries as an intern assistant for Pepper. As for civilian friends, well I figured you might know that making friends in college is hard enough. But when you are 17 it is even harder. So in answer to your question: no, there is nothing down there for me."

"I am so sorry for your loss," I said unsure of what to do, this Lola looked drastically different than her normal bouncy self. The only way I could describe it is older.

"It is okay, Pepper found out and took me in, introducing me to the Avengers. You haven't met Pepper yet but I'm sure you will love her; because everybody adores Pepper, she can even keep Tony in line. The Avengers aren't so different from me. They are alone too, which is why I enjoy their company. Sure they can bug me a lot, but they are my family now."

The way she said it, clear and simple, made me realize how much more there was to the Avengers than a few superheroes saving the world. I realized there and then that I was proud to be a part of it. We started walking again and rounded the corner to come to the door of the common room. We walked in and I glanced at Lola to see her back to her usual cheery self.

"Hey Team! Let's get ready to rock and roll!" She exclaimed as she sat behind the desk with about five computers stretched out in front of her.

I felt four sets of eyes land on me and I turned to them. Thor, Stark, Banner and Barton were all staring at me. I looked at them and raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, you suit up nicely Doc. You should consider wearing that, and a lot less, everyday." Tony smirked at me, looking me up and down. I rolled my eyes and looked at my feet in mild embarrassment, refusing to meet Hawkeye's amused look.

"Coms in please guys, and this readout says your jet is ready on the tarmac." Lola's voice interrupted, her voice all business now.

Everyone who was previously lounging on the sofas stood and began to walk towards the door.

"Good luck, Lo." Steve, who was in front of me, said pausing at the door, "Try not to mess up."

"Rodger that!" She said, giving him a mock salute and laughing.

"That one never tires does it?" He groaned.

"Nope!" She replied grinning evilly, he left the room and I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and followed them onto the waiting plane.

**Hi! Bit of a prelude into what is happening next chapter. Okay, so there is this new thing called Image Manager where... Well that is where I got totally lost and confused, so if anyone cares to explain what it is... feel free!  
Again thank you so much for the alerts and favorites. Of course I love reviews too, so feel free, I _even_ listen to criticism *shock horror* _I know_! Imagine that!  
**

**Little Weasley Girl: I think I love you. You always have such awesome comments, and yes cupcakes! Don't even get me started! Thanks so much for reviewing.**


	11. Switzerland

******************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Switzerland: Lola:**

I sat rigid in my chair as I watched my monitors in front of me. There were times when I was jealous that everyone else got to go on missions and I didn't but there was a rational part of me that knew that I didn't have any skills or powers and would only be a liability. So I was content being the source of information, tracking their movements and monitoring anything that seemed off. I was scanning the chalet in Switzerland, having hacked into the Swiss military satellites to get a real time, precise view of what was happening on the ground before my team got there. Out of the corner of my eye I kept track of the plane carrying them towards the destination, seeing the concentrated clump of triangles that symbolized their trackers.

The chalet itself was old and boarded up on the outside, surrounded on three sides by thick pine trees, the backside faced a steep drop with a wide lake stretched beneath it. The only way that normal people would ever have been able to get up there was by an old funicular, which had been closed for years. The cable that it would have used ran through the forest, right next to the house.

On the screen I saw no movement of any kind in or near the house, but I knew this didn't mean no one was there.

"Hey Team," I said, breaking the silence as I spoke over their communication systems. "You are about five minutes out, so I suggest you get yourself prepped for when you hit the drop zone."

I watched the screen tracking the plane's progress and saw the back door open approximately three minutes later and saw Clint, who was jumping with Trinity as she had never done it before, Steve, and Bruce parachute down as Iron Man flew out and Thor did his seriously cool hammer thing. They landed safely in a clearing just left of the house. I sighed in relief, the first hurdle was over, I found myself worrying slightly more for Trinity than the others, this was her first mission after all and she had only met the Avengers recently, talk about being thrown in the deep end. I started typing in some numbers and then what Tony was seeing from inside his Iron Man suit, I could also see, giving me a better perspective. Then I saw something that made my breath catch in my throat.

"Stark, turn your head again so you're facing your 10 o'clock." I commanded, surprising myself with the seriousness of my voice. Tony must have heard it too because he obliged without complaint. What I saw made me really nervous. "Can you see what I am seeing Stark?"

"Sure can, can you see what it is hooked up to?" He asked tersely.

I started typing furiously, zooming in on their location and saw what I was looking for. I couldn't have possibly seen it until I knew what to look for. I swore under my breath.

"Not filling us with lots of confidence Lo." Came Clint's voice through my ear, he stepped forward.

"Do not move a muscle!" I said in a quiet, but deadly serious, calm voice.

"Not going to lie you are scaring me now Lola." Came Bruce's voice through my earpiece.

"Okay so there is a trip wire about three feet in front of Tony, it is attached to a trigger of what looks like a bomb. I need you to defuse it so that it won't go off if you accidentally trip over the wire."

"How are we supposed to do this if we can't even see the wire?" Asked Steve.

An idea struck me, "Trinity, in one of you belt pockets, the one two along from your gun, I put some itching powder in it."

"Okay as amusing as that may be to you, how is that going to help us?" Tony asked, his voice incredulous.

"I know how!" Trinity said, and I could see her grin through Tony's Iron Man helmet, "Direct me to the wire Lola."

"Atta girl." I said proudly as I directed her to it. "Do you see it?"

"Yeah, and in a second everyone else will too." She said as she blew the white powder out and it stuck to the wire, making it visible against the undergrowth of the forest.

"Good plan Lola," Bruce said appreciatively.

"Alright follow the line along about five feet and you will reach a control box attached to a tree." I instructed, smiling at the compliment and watching their progress through the satellite images projected on my screen, the satellite would move past their location after another 15 minutes so I was hoping this wouldn't take too long. When they got there I told Tony to look at it because he had the most experience with weapons.

"I know what to do, but in this suit my fingers are too fat to do it." He said sounding frustrated.

"Well then it is good you have a trained neurosurgeon with you." Came Trinity's unexpected point. "Tell me what to do, I have steady hands and work well under pressure, you have to, to be a surgeon." As she slowly approached the bomb

"Alright Doc, you need to pull out the blue wire, and don't let the end touch any of the other wires on the way out, or else we will all be blown to kingdom come."

Trinity nodded and I heard a collective sigh of relief brush though my COM when she had done it.

"You must be butter girl, because you are on a roll!" I said, whooping. I heard the groan that was the result of my joke.

"How is it possible that your jokes get worse every day?" Tony asked. I just laughed and told them to hurry up and gather the information in the house before it got dark or the satellite moved out of range.

Once in the house, it was revealed that the outside was just a cover, the inside was extremely high tech and filled with the latest computer technology. Tony and Bruce quickly set to work hacking the computers and sending the information wirelessly to me while Thor, Clint, Trinity and Steve gathered any files into a duffle bag being carried by Steve. They found a car in the garage and, after checking it for trackers or bombs, decided to load it so they could use it to get to the rendezvous at the lake. I got a nagging feeling this was all going too smoothly and then I heard a beeping sound. I looked up to my monitor and saw about 15 circles moving swiftly towards the house. I sat up straighter in my chair and shouted into my COM.

"Damn it. Guys, you've got incoming, about 15 coming fast from the East side."

"Shit" was the collective response of the team as I saw them all group together.

This was going to be a tense few hours.

**So, this was just a taste of the action, it gets so much more fun with even _more _action in the next chapter, promise! **

**I love getting all the alerts that you are alerting and favouriting my story! Also, I have no idea why COM is in capitals, that is what spell check changes it to, and I listen to spell check usually because I hate that red squiggly line. I love all of you reviewers! Keep it up!  
**

**Red red red ribbon: Thank you so much for taking the time to review, I do try to make it interesting!**

**Cavazza: Yes she is, and she only gets more kickass! Yeah, I'm sure his reaction would be along those lines, almost cartoon like! **

**AaroniteXkryptonite: Thanks for reviewing again! It is much appreciated. Another cliff hanger here, sorry! **


	12. The Ambush

******************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**The Ambush: Clint:**

"Damn it. Guys, you've got incoming, about 15 coming fast from the East side."

I heard it through my COM and immediately went to one of the windows to see what we were up against.  
"Shit"  
"Stark, Banner are you about done?" Lola's voice asked.

"Yeah a couple more minutes and you will have everything." Banner replied sounding anxious.

"We don't have a couple more minutes, they will be here in about 60 seconds, tops." I said, seeing movement directly outside.  
"Alright, here is what we are going to do." We all listened as Steve took command, divvying up jobs between us. "Trinity and Thor will stay here while Tony and I will create a diversion outside, where upon Bruce will drive out with the files and Hawk will pick off any people following. Our main priority is to get those files to safety."

"Alright, you heard the man!" Lola's voice exclaimed, "Go to it team! Thor and Trinity I need you to guard the computer until the green bar is full on the screen or else we won't get anything. Then you need to destroy it so they can't get anything."  
"Got it," Trinity's voice came surprisingly strong, considering the situation.

"Stark, Cap, they are coming. Move out. Now!" Lola exclaimed.  
I looked at Bruce and he nodded at me, we went to the pick up truck in the garage and I hopped in the open back while he got in the drivers seat. I watched as Stark flew out, quickly followed by the sprinting super-soldier. I heard gunfire almost immediately.

"Stark, Rodgers, Sit Rep." Lola demanded.

"Well," panted the Captain, "You were right, about 15, definitely mutants. Highly trained and armed."  
"Damn, alright, Banner and Barton move out around the back way I only see a couple figures moving but they don't look like people."  
"Can you be a little more specific Lola?" I huffed in annoyance.

"I would if I could Hawk."

"Alright, let's go." I say banging a hand on the roof of the car to tell Banner I was ready.  
The car started to move and we were going through the trees on a beaten path. I suddenly heard snarls above me and looked up to see what looked like a puma. Only, it wasn't. It was huge, about the size of a bear, all muscle and a massive mouth. The things that set it apart were its eyes, which were a bright green, almost human like. It was getting ready to pounce, and it wasn't alone. I knew now what figures Lola had been unable to identify. I took a deep breath and in the same movement grabbed an arrow and shot the beast in the heart, seeing it fall from the trees only briefly before moving on to deal with the other four. Then Bruce and I were in the clear, for now, heading for the lake where we would be picked up.  
"Crap, guys incoming from the West side, I would say another 10 at least. Thor, you take care of them while Trinity guards the computer." Lola shouted through the earpiece, you could hear frantic scrabbling of keys as she focused in on the action.  
"Yes, I can do that." Thor exclaimed, he too shouted into the COM system, causing me to wince.

"Trinity there is one on their way to you, they are in the building, coming up the stairs to the computer room. You need to take care of them." I smiled to myself, worried – not for Trinity – but for that poor fool who had to take her on. Sure enough, a few telltale whumps later and he was down.

"A couple more incoming Trinity, is it almost finished? Stark, Cap can't you hold them off of her?"

"A little busy, Lo!" Panted Tony. "They are coming in from all over the place."  
"Okay, I need you guys to drive as many as you can back, away from the house. I am going to set the house to blow and get out, I need you to be away from the impact zone." I was shocked to hear Trinity's voice as she took control of the situation. "I need to get rid of these computers and any evidence that we didn't get, because if we can't have it, there is no way they are going to get it!"  
"All right! Go Doctor Taylor!" Whooped Tony, "That was badass! We can do that."

"Careful Trinity, we don't want you caught in the line of fire too." Lola's worried voice came over the system.

"Don't worry, I will be fine." She reassured her, then a couple seconds later, "Okay, the transfer is complete, do you have the data?"  
"Yep, it is coming in now. You are all clear, Hawk where are you?"  
"We are almost at the rendezvous point, in the clear for now." I replied after doing a brief sit rep.

"Great, Thor how about you?"

"I have pushed back the enemy and have only a few left."

"Stark, Cap?"  
"Yeah, same with us, though I have to give it to them, they are tenacious little people."

"Alright, Trinity, you have the gear in the bag on the floor. The timer gives you five minutes before it blows, during which time you need to be sprinting out of the house."  
"Rodger that."  
I was so absorbed in the action happening that I nearly missed the mutants laying wait for us up ahead. I mentally shook myself and trained my sights on them. Four arrows and five dead bodies later, we had reached the rendezvous site where a helicopter was waiting for us on the wide, open pier on the lake. I helped Banner quickly load the files onto the helicopter and looked up to the chalet we had just left.

"Okay I set the bomb, and I am leaving the…" Started Trinity before you heard an unmistakable thump as she got punched.

"Trinity, can you hear me?" Lola asked

"Yeah, except some people obviously don't know when to give up and" Grunt "run" another grunt "away!"

"Trinity you only have four minutes and counting to get the hell out of there!" I yelled into my COM, worry starting to take over as I listened to the sounds of her fight.

"No, really? I had no idea, thanks so much." She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, which made me grin slightly, despite my worry. "Oh, of course she has a little knife isn't that brilliant. Well I have some ninja stars, and did I forget to mention how I can throw them with my mind? See how you like that!"  
I chuckled at her little monologue as she fought this unknown enemy. Then my laugh faded as I heard her draw in a quick sharp breath. Then I heard the distinctive sound of a body hitting the ground.  
"Trinity!" Shouted Bruce over the COM and I looked over to the Doctor who was standing next to me, also listening, his face taught with worry as we waited an agonizing couple of seconds before we heard,

"Can't get rid of me that easily! We Brits tough it out." She said, sounding slightly weak yet smug all the same.

"Trinity, you have to get out. Now!" Lola shouted, "You have less than 30 seconds!"

"Okay, well if Bruce Lee can use them" I heard her mumble as I held my breath, watching the chalet on the mountain intently. Then I saw a body jumping through the air from the window where I knew the computers were, holding something in her hand. She landed on the pylon ladder leading up to the funicular cable and instead of going down, she scrambled up.

"What the hell are you doing Trinity?" came Lola's voice over the COM system; she was evidently following the Doctor's progress over the satellites.

"Flying." She stated simply.

With that, she hooked something over the wire and began sliding down it. She was coming down the mountain when the house behind her exploded. I heard a collective sigh of relief over the COM system, but I didn't share it because as she got closer I could see her more clearly. She had a gash, which seemed to be bleeding copiously, and was holding on to a pair of what looked like nunchucks? Well that would explain the earlier comment about Bruce Lee. She was coming down fast with no way to control herself, and if she kept up at the rate she did, she was likely to run straight into the fast approaching trees.

**On the one hand it is a lovely long chapter! On the other it is a bit of a cliff hanger (no pun intended) MUHAHAHA! So for the next chapter you will be seeing Trinity's version of what is happening... Exciting stuff. Thank you (as always) to those of you who have alerted and favourited my story! I adore you commenters too, it makes writing them so much easier! **

**Nelle07: Thank you so much for commenting! I am soo happy you like it! I imagine Lola as being almost 20 so yeah, that sounds about right! **

**Supernovaserenity: YAY! I love Lola too, she makes me laugh too. I figured with all the dense action and sadness that will inevitably follow the Avengers there needs to be some comic relief! Thank you for reading and liking my story! **


	13. Landing Scars

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Landing Scars: Trinity:**

"Okay I set the bomb, and I am leaving the…" I started as I pressed the button on the bomb, which I had just wired to the computer. I turned around and there was some lady in a suit not unlike mine with jet-black hair and a twisted look on her face. Before I could finish my sentence she punched me in the stomach, winding me slightly.

"Trinity, can you hear me?" I heard Lola ask over my COM system, obviously worried.

"Yeah, except some people obviously don't know when to give up and" I said, pausing to sweep her legs out from under her with a grunt "run" I paused again, punching her as she stood up and she admitted another grunt "away!"

"Trinity you only have four minutes and counting to get the hell out of there!" I hear Clint yell into my COM. Thank you captain obvious, I thought. Then again he sounded worried.

"No, really? I had no idea, thanks so much." I replied, still trying to get the upper hand with Raven over here. "Oh, of course she has a little knife, isn't that brilliant." I say as she pulls out a knife from some hidden pocket in her suit. I use my mind to pull out my shuriken, "Well I have some ninja stars, and did I forget to mention how I can throw them with my mind? See how you like that!" I say as I throw them at her with my mind, seeing them cut her arm as she moves out of the way, coming closer towards me. Then I feel a sharp pain in my ribs and gasp. I look down and see a knife protruding out of me. Oh _HELL NO_.

I took the knife, wielding it with my mind, until it went into the girl in front of me, deep in her arm and I watched her as she fell to the floor, still to dazed to speak but glad I hadn't kill her, I couldn't do that, not yet.

"Trinity!" I hear Bruce's shout as if from the end of a tunnel, instead of from the COM in my ear.

I take the knife and weld it in my mind, until it goes into the girl in front of me, I watch her as she falls to the floor, still to dazed to speak.

"Trinity!" I hear Bruce's shout as if from the end of a tunnel, instead of from the COM in my ear.

I shook myself slightly and said in a slightly smug voice, "Can't get rid of me that easily! We Brits tough it out."

"Trinity, you have to get out. Now!" Lola shouted in my ear as I looked around, "You have less than 30 seconds!"

I glance out the window and see the pylon is within jumping distance from the window. Seemingly, without conscious thought, the nunchucks from earlier are in my hand. I run back a couple paces, gearing up.

"Okay, well if Bruce Lee can use them" I mutter to myself and take a running leap out of the window and just grabbing onto the ladder of the pylon. I don't have time to celebrate my successful jump or to rethink my plan. I pulled myself up to the top, ignoring the sharp pain on my right side.

"What the hell are you doing Trinity?" came Lola's voice over my COM system.

"Flying?" I said, hoping my voice didn't give away my blind fear.

I swung one side of the nunchucks over the cable and hoped that the chain holding it together wouldn't break. I took a deep breath and held on tight, pushing off the side of the pylon just as the chalet exploded behind me. The force of the blast pushed me forward and I almost lost my grip, I managed to cling on but felt a searing pain in my left shoulder, it was then I realised my bigger problem. I had no control over my flight, I was zip lining down a steep cable and I was heading straight for some giant pine trees. I was not about to die like George of the Jungle.

"Um, a little help here?" I shouted over the wind whistling over me.

"You will have to let go and land in the water." Came Lola's reply. "Stark and Thor have their hands full. Hawk, you have the best eyes, tell her when to let go so she has the shortest and least painful drop."

I looked over to see Clint staring at me, fast approaching.

"Trust me?" He asked.

"Yes." I said, surprising myself when I mean it.

"Then let go," he paused, "Now!"

I let go of my nunchucks and plummeted to the water. The water hit me like a tonne of ice-cold bricks and I struggled to the top, gasping for breath, my left arm still extremely painful. The water seemed to purge my system of adrenalin and I felt myself begin to shake, the cold water was stinging my wound and I cried out in pain. Then, I was suddenly being hauled out of the water. I felt a warm body with hard biceps pressed to my sides as whoever it was carried me onto a pier of some sorts. I looked up when they I was set down gently and saw Hawkeye looking down at me, there was something unsettling about the way his eyes seemed to see everything about me. Well, he must have seen something worrying because he looked down and his eyes widened infinitesimally, and he called over his shoulder,

"Banner!" I had a second to see Banner leaning down over the wound in my side before I passed out on the deck; the last thing I saw was Barton and Banner. For some reason they were swirling around me, and they were looking at me, like I was the odd one. Had anyone told them they were spinning?

**Bit of a dramatic ending, sorry about that. Oh well, I hope you liked it. Again, I love the alerts and favourites that just keep coming! It is very exciting when you get an alert that someone has alerted your story! I love reviewers too, it makes my day.**

**Supernovaserenity: That is so cool, I can't believe you have nunchucks. They do seem hard to control. I'm glad your elf didn't get hurt, it is always a downer when one accidently hits one's elf with a nunchuck... **

**ILoveReadingAndWriting: I think I would too, thanks for liking the chapter! I hope you like this one too I thought it would give a little insight into what Trinity was going through. Yay! I have a Loyal fan! **

**Cavazza: Yay! I like when people jump with glee about updates. Yeah this whole switching POV during the action was a bit of an experiment, I am definitely going to limit the character changes now. Hope you keep reading, it will get better... I think... I hope...**

**Little Weasley Girl: Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments! They are always entertaining and I am glad you liked the chapters!**

**Nelle07: Thank you! Me too! I realised that thus far her personality didn't come through as much as I wanted it to, so there we go: Epic lines. **


	14. Waiting Up

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Waiting up: Hawkeye: **

As soon as she landed in the water, I could see she was drained. I gently threw aside my bow and quiver, which was half full of arrows, and dive into the water. It was freezing, but I knew that from what I had seen of Trinity's wounds, she wouldn't be able to swim the short distance to the pier on her own. I waded over to her and saw red staining the water around her and I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms. Her eyes weren't open which worried me. Her usually pale skin had gone a chalky white. I set her down on the pier and she opens her eyes, her pupils are dilated in what I'm sure is a mixture of fear and adrenalin but I can see the adrenalin was draining fast and being replaced by pain. I look down and curse inwardly. The wound in her side is a good 10cm long and blood is coming out fast, explaining her overly pale complexion.

"Banner!" I called over to the Doctor causing him to hurry over to us, with his first aid kit he had retrieved from the helicopter, and look at the wound. He started to clean it but by then Trinity had passed out on the deck.

"Clint, come in. What's happening, is she okay?" I could hear Lola's worry through my COM and smiled slightly at the girl's obvious worry of her team.

"Yeah, the Doc is looking at her but she lost a lot of blood, we need to get back, like now." I replied, watching as Banner covered the wound with tightly packed gauze.

"Tony and Steve how are you guys?" Lola asked

"En route to the chopper, be there soon." Came Stark's reply.

"Thor?"

"I too am coming, I will be amongst you shortly." He replied.

I looked down at Trinity; she was breathing short, shallow breaths. Then I realized how cold and wet she must be as I started feeling the cold, I felt her for her wrist, noting how icy cold it felt and felt her pulse slow.

"Banner, we have to get her dry clothes on her and wrap her up. She is going hypothermic." I said to Bruce and we lifted her up and took her onto the spacious military helicopter. The doctor began to remove her cat suit and wrapped her immediately in a thick first aid blanket. I did the same to myself, but there was a spare suit for me on the helicopter. I heard a thump behind me and turned to see Thor landing, his hammer held loosely at his side.

"Thor. Good, I need you to come here and hold her, you are big enough to keep her warm and steady. We need to leave now." Bruce commanded of the god. Thor just nodded and went over to hold the unconscious doctor.

"Well isn't this a déjà vu?" Tony remarked as he too landed, dropping Steve in front of him.

"All right, get in now, I am telling the pilot to take you to the helicarrier. We are flying over France now, so it shouldn't take too long." Lola's voice said over our COM systems. Sure enough a couple seconds later we heard the rotating sound of the propellers as the chopper prepared to take off.

I looked around and saw everyone casting protective, worried looks at Trinity, who had gone from a dangerous blue to a pale white while she was in the blanket in Thor's arms. Though she had only been with us for a couple days, she had already proven her worth and shown she is worthy of their respect. I looked out of the windows of the helicopter at the Swiss countryside passing swiftly beneath us and hoped that we would get to the helicarrier soon, for her sake.

The journey lasted about forty minutes. When we landed on the helicarrier I saw Lola waiting with a medical team and gurney for Trinity. Next to the girl was a red headed woman with her hand on Lola's back, petting it consolingly. Tony must have called Pepper on the way over, telling her he was on his way over. After Trinity was gently placed onto the gurney and rushed away, Tony and Pepper went off to talk. I watched and saw Lola sag slightly, her eyes filled with worry.

"You did good, kid." Steve said, going up to her.

She looked up at him in disbelief, "How can you say that?" she demanded, "Trinity is being hustled to the hospital block and you guys almost got killed all because I didn't – I didn't…" She trailed off.

"You did everything you could have and more. Don't be too hard on yourself, Trinity is tough, she will be okay." I said, unsure if I was trying to convince her or me. I grasped her shoulders and forcing her to look at me, "This is in no way your fault. Okay?"

She looked up at me and nodded slowly, I let go of her shoulders and sighed, turning to walk away.

"Clint?" I paused, hearing her say my name and turned slowly, cocking my head to one side. What she did next surprised me even more than anything that had happened to me today. She wrapped her arms around me in a hug. "It wasn't your fault either, and she will be okay. You are right."  
I was stunned into silence. For once I had no idea what to do or say. This girl had just read me like a book, and she was _hugging_ me. No one ever dared hug me. So I just raised my arms and patted her back in a similar way to what Pepper was doing when we had landed, hoping that is the appropriate response.

"Yeah, I know, thanks Lo." I said awkwardly. I felt slightly grateful when she released me and grinned her usual Cheshire cat grin. At least that was charted territory.

"Come on Bruce." She called behind her, "We have to see what this information tells us. Something tells me we have a helluva lot of decoding to do. May as well start now. The Doctors will tell us anything about Trinity."

And with that, she skipped off towards the lab. I shook my head in mild amusement and shock. If there was one thing to say about Lola, it was that she was never boring.

**Okay so hope you liked that chapter, not much really happened but it was necessary! Again love the alerts and favourites and especially the reviews! Keep them coming... Please!**

**Cavazza: I think any of the Avengers could drag me away and I would not protest! Yay, well I am going to try to limit it to Trinity's POV after this chapter though it makes it easier to follow, unless something truly exciting is happening elsewhere... **

**Little Weasley Girl: You never cease to amuse me with your reviews, thanks! **

**Invader Ivy: Thank you so much! I had this weird obsession with getting her to use her nunchucks for some odd reason...**

**ILoveReadingAndWriting: She may be important... Maybe, maybe not... We shall see! Thanks for reviewing and actually liking it! **

**Nelle07: That may have been a put a bit of a damper on the story, might have been just a small cringe moment! Thanks, I do love Trinity's little conversations with herself... Thank you for reviewing!**


	15. Waking Up

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Waking Up: Trinity:**

When I woke up I was lying on an uncomfortable bed in a white room, quite obviously a hospital. I tried to sit up but there was a pain in my side that pushed me back down so I just looked around slowly. I could see some flowers on the table and smiled slightly before realizing my situation. I got stabbed and fell out of the sky in the space of two minutes, which explained the pain. Well at least I wasn't dead. Just as I laid my head back down Dr Banner and Lola walked in.

"You're awake!" cheered Lola as she came in and rushed over to me.

"What happened?" I managed wincing at the dryness in my throat.

"Well, after your showcase of super ninja skills, Clint rescued from the lake and we flew you back here, to the helicarrier, lucky for you the knife didn't hit any vital organs so we stitched you up before you lost any more blood. Oh, and you dislocated your shoulder but that should be fine now. All in all you should be on your feet again soon." I couldn't help but be relieved that there was no lasting damage from the attack.

"If he rescued me I should probably thank Barton." was all I could think to say, "Where is he?"

"All the others are waiting in the common room, the nurses didn't want you to be overwhelmed by too many people." came Banner's reply, "But you can't go anywhere yet, you need rest so my advise would be to get some sleep. I'll ask Clint to come by later if you want."

I couldn't deny I was extremely tired so simply muttered "Thanks" and closed my eyes again.

Time passed in weird ways. I came in and out of consciousness a couple times in the next day, or was it the next hour?

When I opened my eyes again I was more alert and less groggy. Clint was standing by the portal-like window looking out with his back to me. I decided to look at him for a moment before he inevitably noticed I was awake.

His arms were crossed in front of him, his shoulders rigid and his whole posture screaming with tension. He must have heard some change in my breathing as he turned and looked at me. His eyes showed his worry for a second before reverting back to their normal unreadable selves.

"Enjoying the view?" I asked, conversationally.

"And here I was going to ask you the same thing." He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah definitely, I just saw a very fit male nurse scurry by." I teased and it was his turn to roll his eyes. "But seriously, I wanted to thank you. For, you know, saving me."

"Hey, you would have done the same for anyone else." He said, "think of it as my repayment from nearly shooting you with my arrow."

"Nearly?" I asked incredulously, "You did shoot me!"

"Yes, but you can't count that, you stopped it!" He replied, coming to sit in the chair next to my bed.

"Oh you archers, always full of excuses."

"Nah, it is you Brits being so melodramatic!"

"Oh yeah, because no one else would get annoyed at being almost shot..."

He chuckled and I closed my eyes listening to him. He stopped abruptly and I opened my eyes to see him looking at me in worry.

"What?"

"You closed your eyes, I thought you were in pain." He explained

"What from this old thing? Tis merely a flesh wound." I joke but I look down at the bandages, which are wrapped around my waist and wince slightly.

"Hey," he said forcing me to look at him.

"How bad is it?" I asked, probing his eyes with mine trying to get some answers.

"Do you want to see?" I nodded and lifted my shirt slightly to reveal the bandages. I was grateful to whoever had dressed me in some loose tracksuit bottoms and top. He came and sat on the edge of the bed, I felt him put his arm behind my shoulders to help prop me up and then he began to gently unwind my bandages. I felt shivers emanate from my stomach every time his fingers brushed against it.

"There." He said softly, I peeked down and paled slightly at the sight of the wound. I was a doctor, I had seen numerous scars before but it had always seemed so much more clinical and separate from myself. It was a long gash, 10cm being my conservative estimate, which cut just under my ribs.

"Damn." I said, unable to think of anything better to say.

"That is going to leave one hell of a scar," Barton commented and when I just looked at him he added, "at least there is a story to tell with it!"

"Oh yeah, that is true. It was very Jane Bond of me." He chuckled at that, "What is your most exciting scar?"

He looked at me for a second, and I thought he might just leave but then he began to lift up his shirt and turned around. There were lots of small crescent moon shaped scars all over his back. I lifted my hand despite myself and touched one, I felt him tense beneath my finger and then relax again as I traced my finger lightly over the raised surface of the scars. I took my hand away and he pulled his shirt back down.

"Why is that one the coolest?" I asked curiously.

"Because last year, when we were fighting Loki's army I only had one arrow left and went through a window. They are my favorite because they are my first battle scars that I took while working with the team."

"Huh, so you were in the battle of Manhattan?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I am first and foremost a S.H.I.E.L.D agent so I need to keep my covert status." He replied as he started rewrapping the bandage around my ribs.

"Yeah, sure you did, I bet you just say that to all the girls." I teased, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"Only the ones who need to be rescued from Swiss lakes by dashing men." He joked back.

"Hey! I thought we had already established that I am female Bond material!" I cry indignantly.

"You keep telling yourself that, dear." He chuckled, finishing up wrapping the bandage. I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckles, pausing for a moment before moving from the side of my bed and back into the chair next to it. "You should sleep you know, apparently it takes its toll."

"What does? Almost dying from an explosion, a fall and blood loss? I should think so!"

"Oh, I just meant being a damsel in distress as a roguish man comes and saves you." He teased back lightly, his eyes dancing.

"Yeah, Bruce really is a night in shining armor, remind me to thank him when I get up." I replied sweetly, grinning to myself at his look of mock outrage. "Now I am going to sleep, you were right about one thing. It does take its toll."

With that I close my eyes and drift off, feeling slightly comforted knowing he is there, for now.

**Oh I love this chapter for some odd reason... What do you guys think of it? As always, reviews and suggestions (grammatical or plot wise) are always loved and welcomed. Thanks for all of you who favourited and followed, it really means a lot.**

**Invader Ivy: Yes! I knew I wasn't the only one with a happy dance! Yeah, I couldn't bring myself to kill her... that time... *cue dramatic music* **

**ILoveReadingAndWriting: Thanks for reviewing, as always, and yeah the damage wasn't too bad... Considering... Hope you liked this chapter!**

**Little Weasley Girl: The feelings are mutual. I hate when that happens, you really want something but are too lazy/comfortable to go get it... usually from the fridge :) I suppose it is Clinity, better than Trint or (as someone odd suggested) Trinalint... Good call, Ninja.**


	16. Recovery

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers**

**Recovery: Trinity:**

Two weeks later I was out of the hospital. My shoulder still ached and my stomach constantly hurt but it wasn't too bad, considering. I stayed in my room of the helicarrier most of the time, simply because it was easier than walking to the common room but today Lola had dragged me out, saying something about a need for social interaction. Everyone was there and as I walked in I could see the concern on almost all of their faces, Tony was, as usual, on his phone. The collective worry for my well-being was so not helping me feel better. I settled myself on the sofa next to Steve – who smiled sweetly – I just nodded in acknowledgement.

"No offence guys, but there better be a good reason you dragged me here, Lola" I said and the little grin on her face proved me right.

"Well, Bruce and I finally managed to decode some of the data from Switzerland"

"I decoded it actually" came Tony's smug voice from across the room.

"No you didn't" said Bruce calmly "You thought you did, but the software you used just reinforced the firewall. We just didn't tell you as we didn't think your ego could handle it." Tony glared at Bruce then shrugged his shoulders and went back to his phone.

"So you said you got something from it?"

"Yes Steve I did, before I was so rudely interrupted" Lola gave Tony a pointed look, he looked up and smiled innocently "We haven't got much yet but it seems the main base for all of the Flyer's activities is somewhere in England, and we also learned that the leader of this 'movement' only ever speaks to the highest members of the organization and is, as of yet, invisible so no name yet."

"So what are we meant to do now?" It was the first time I noticed Clint was even in the room. He was in the corner, as usual, standing ramrod straight and motionless – enough to go unnoticed, just as he doubtless liked it.

"We sit tight here until we get more information and besides Trinity still needs time to recover"

"Thanks Lola." I couldn't deny the idea of another mission in this state made me very worried "And at least I'll have more time to practice my with my new powers." At this Tony looked up and eyed me warily.

"You've already got me, feel free to leave me out this time"

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it" I smirked and leant back on the sofa, relaxing now I knew that I had time to recover

"Well if we are not needed in battle, I suggest we find some sustenance, I could eat a whole box of poptarts"

"You can always eat a box of poptarts Thor" Lola said, rolling her eyes.

"That is because they are a good source of sustenance." Thor replied indignantly, evidently confused over how anyone could have anything against poptarts.

Just then a woman, who looked vaguely familiar with ginger hair, came in through the doors. Tony immediately hung up his phone and went over to her.

"That is Pepper Potts." Steve said to me, nodding at the woman.

I knew who she was now. The famous Pepper Potts was made CEO of Stark industries last year and was girlfriend to Tony Stark. She caught a glimpse of me and smiled, ignoring Tony completely and walking over.

"Hi, I realize we haven't had a chance to meet. I'm Pepper." She said, holding out her hand. "I have heard all about you, it is great to finally meet you!"

"Likewise," I said, shaking her hand.

"So how have you been settling in?" She asked as she sat in the seat across from me.

"Oh it is great, still getting lost but that would happen if I wasn't on a flying boat so no surprises there." I said sarcastically and she laughed. Then, after some thought, added "The company isn't bad either, even though certain people wanted to push me off a bridge" I glared at Stark, "while _others_ shot me with arrows." I shot one at Clint.

"Oh please," Came the latter's reply, "you got your revenge for that and then some."

"Yeah, and now I have to double check everything I put away just in case you are around and have moved it!" Came Tony's indignant response.

I chuckled, and tilted my head conceding their points. Pepper laughed too, "Sounds like they deserved what they got!"

"Miss Potts you wound me!" Tony cried, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"I'm sure you will get over it, you big baby." She answered.

Lola and I chuckled to ourselves as Tony scowled petulantly.

"So, I missed it," Pepper addressed Bruce and Lola, "what have you found out?"

"Not much, just an army of Mutants who are trying to take over the world, Nazi style. The problem is we don't know who is in charge, so we will continue decrypting the information and go through reports coming in from Natasha."

My interest was peaked at the mention of Natasha. "I have heard a lot about this infamous Natasha, who is she?" I asked to the group in general.

"Oh, she is the other member of our team. She is an assassin/ super spy who works for S.H.I.E.L.D. Though Clint can tell you more about her I'm sure." Lola said, grinning somewhat evilly at the archer. I didn't miss the scowl he gave her in return, but that just made her smirk even bigger. She turned to me to explain, "Natasha is Clint's partner, meaning they do most of their _missions_ together." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively at the word 'missions'.

"What Lola has been oh-so-subtly hinting at is a romantic relationship between the Widow and I which she so deludedly thinks exists, when in fact we are just good friends," He said, rolling his eyes. Bruce chuckled from his seat next to Lola, who just grinned unrepentantly.

"Nah, I know there is nothing going on between you, you are just so much fun to tease!" She answered, "You are one of the few people who don't rise as easily, which makes it more of a challenge and consequently more fun!"

With that she skipped over and kissed him platonically on the cheek. He froze to the spot while his cheeks went bright red and his eyes widened in shock. Lola backed up slowly before she burst out laughing and the rest of the team quickly followed.

"Poor Robin Hood, didn't see that one coming." Stark said, laughing at his reaction.

"Oh you are going to get it!" Clint scowled at Lola.

"Bring it on Hawk." She challenged, grinning mischievously she then shrieked when he mysteriously pulled his bow from somewhere, aiming an arrow at her as she ran around the room dodging around furniture and lab equipment deftly and ended up hiding behind the sofa.

I laughed along with the rest of the group at their antics. I could see Steve looked nervous that someone would get hit with an arrow, but I knew Clint was too good with his bow to let that happen, and saw Pepper surveying everyone lovingly as a mother hen would do. I leaned back into the sofa, laughing heartily for the first time in a long while. Grateful again that I was now part of this team of remarkable people.

**Sorry my lovelies, I meant to post yesterday but completely spaced out. Anyway... Just a little fun this chapter, thank you for all the story follows and favourites, even though I sound like a broken record they are very motivating. I do love getting reviews, any ideas about where the story should go or just any comments in general are much appreciated. **

**Nelle07: Yay! They are fierce! Exciting, thank you so much for taking the time to review and actually like the story.**


	17. Drink Up

**********Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.  
Lola and Trinity are original characters, ergo they are MINE! Muhahahahaha...**

**Drink Up: Trinity:**

I was sitting in a secluded alcove with my back touching one wall and legs almost touching the other side, looking out of the window to my right which was overlooking the outside world as the helicarrier flew over. I had taken to coming here at night to think; Barton had shown it to me originally and I found myself drawn to it when I needed time to myself. Though my healing was remarkably fast, my shoulder still gave me some pain, enough to keep me up at night. Surprisingly, it was Tony who had noticed. He had caught up with me earlier in the day, as I was going back to my room after my physiotherapy. He pressed a bag into my hand and told me it was for when I couldn't sleep. He told me it would numb the pain. When I got to my room and looked at the contraband I was oddly grateful. He gave me a couple bottles of tequila, only the high-end brands from Tony.

So I was sitting in the alcove swigging straight from the bottle. Tony was right about one thing; it definitely numbed the pain slightly. I was suddenly aware of a presence behind me but I didn't turn, pretty certain I knew who it was. The only way you could find this place was if you knew it was here. Sure enough…

"Is this seat taken?" He asked, standing behind me, I didn't look up, just gestured with my arm to the space across from me. He sat down and stretched his legs out so that they were touching the walls to the left of me. I looked up then and caught him studying me. His face was unreadable but his eyes were full of concern

"Want some?" I asked, gesturing to the tequila. When he nodded I floated a bottle over to him and he grabbed it out of the air.

"Stark always gets the good stuff." He noted appreciatively, examining the bottle.

I nodded and just looked out of the window, taking another sip. I could feel his eyes on me again, but I didn't turn my head to look.

"Never pegged you for a straight tequila kind of girl." He commented, "Actually I pegged you as more of a straight edge type of girl."

I snorted at that, "Well I think you should learn from that, not to peg people too soon."

"Touché." He smirked at me, "So how can you handle your booze so well, I mean you must have drunk about half a bottle of straight tequila and you don't even seem tipsy. That takes some skill especially on someone as small as you."

"Small? Thanks for that, and well it's a secret but it has taken years of practice. I can handle my alcohol along with the best of them, thank you very much, probably better than you."

He chuckled, "Alright darlin', lets test that shall we?" an evil grin forming on his face, "This is simple: whoever downs the most tequila in the next 30 seconds wins. GO" After getting over my shock I grabbed my bottle and tried to ignore the burning in my throat. "Times up" we compared our bottles and although I had drunk almost a third, half of his was empty.

"Fine, you win, but only because I've already drunk far too much"

"Okay no need to get defensive, don't be a sore loser."

I shrugged, and winced instantly regretting the movement of my shoulder. Of course this didn't go unnoticed by the all-seeing Hawk.

"So that is why you are here and not in bed, resting." He observed, gesturing towards my shoulder with the bottle in his hand.

I looked at him and nodded, "That still doesn't explain why_ you_ are here though."

"What, did you forget that the debonair man, who is gracing you with his formidable presence, is the one who showed you this pocket of the ship in the first place?" He teased and I turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Debonair? You could just get away with roguish but debonair, really?"

He chuckled then sighed and it was his turn to look out of the window. I took this as a moment to study him, taking in his tense profile before he turned to face me again. He raised his eyebrows, "This is the second time I have caught you admiring me, Taylor. Do you like what you see?"

I just rolled my eyes, "Oh yeah!" I said feigning enthusiasm, "Though, Legolas is my favorite archer, sorry!"

"Oh you wound me so!" He feigned hurt, dramatically placing a hand over his aforementioned wounded heart. "It must be the pointy ears, nay the long luscious blond hair!"

I giggle despite myself, "Actually, Orlando Bloom is just fit. Then there is Robin Hood, though he's to righteous for my liking."

"And he wears tights." He shudders and I laugh. "I never could grasp how a man could wear tights. It sounds and looks painful."

"I guess only real men wear tights, maybe you should ask Steve." I said, grinning at his mock offended look.

"Yeah, I'm sure they do." He replied sarcastically and took another drink.

"Why do you use a bow and arrow and not something more…" I struggled for the right word for a moment, "conventional?"

He looked out of the window and for a moment I was unsure about whether he would answer or not. Then he began to speak, "I grew up in the circus, and my performance or 'trick' was with the bow and arrow." He sounded slightly bitter, "Then when S.H.I.E.L.D found me and offered me a spot I just never gave it up, why waste a perfectly good talent, eh?"

I could tell that there was more to the story than he was letting on but I let it go, nodding at his answer.

"Does that mean it is my turn to ask a question?" He said, smirking at me.

I rolled my head around to look at him, "Since when has this been a quid pro quo thing?"

"Oh so it is a thing now, exciting." He grinned, quirking an eyebrow mischievously "I will file that away for further use."

"Yeah, you do that." I retorted, standing up to stretch my legs and arms. Cursing myself as pain shot down my arm, how was it possible that I kept forgetting? Damn tequila.

"Hey, take it easy there, don't want to overexert your shoulder." I turned surprised to find him right behind me, also standing. "Here sit down."

Something in his voice made me listen to him. I sat down and crossed my legs. I felt him sit behind me. I stiffened when I felt him push my hair over my shoulder and then tensed as he began to massage my shoulder. I then began relaxing into his hands as they kneaded the muscle in my shoulder, I let my head drop forward closing my eyes and began dozing as he massaged the rest of my back as well. We stayed like that for what felt like a blissfully long time, I didn't want to say anything unless I broke the spell and he stopped. When he did stop, I slowly looked up, feeling tingles wash through my body before I swiveled around to face him.

"Thank you, that was amazing." I said sincerely, meeting his eyes. Then hiccupped.

"So they tell me." He smirked, trying not to laugh and raising his eyebrows playfully. I rolled my eyes but was grateful for the lightening of the mood. "But seriously, any time doc."

"Well, I had better go to sleep then, I have physiotherapy again tomorrow morning, not looking forward to explaining why my head hurts so much." I stood to leave and he stood too, and we started walking towards my room.

"Don't you mean this morning?" He asked, glancing at his watch and I groaned. "Oh well, maybe when you are cleared we can spar. I will have to go easier on you though, wouldn't want you to hurt your shoulder when you lose, again."

By this time we had reached my door and he was leaning on the wall next to my doorway.

"Oh you won did you? Because the way I remember it you were on your back staring at the ceiling when I walked out of our last fight." I said indignantly.

"Hmm, maybe I was just letting the newbie win." He teased, leaning in, "Next time I won't be so lenient."

"I don't think you could handle me Barton," I reply, leaning in closer so there was only 30cm between us.

He raised his eyebrows at the challenge, "We shall see, Taylor. When you are all healed. Rest up."

"Thanks."

"For what? The amazing massage or the equally amazing company?" He teased lightly, his eyes dancing.

I pondered this for a second before answering, "Both." And, before I could over-think it, I stepped forward and gave him a small peck on the cheek. I then went into my room leaving him standing there. I got in the room and leaned against the now closed door and smiled, suddenly the pain from my shoulder and scar were much less painful, and I had a feeling it was little to do with the tequila.

**Thanks for all of the favourites and alerts. It really means a lot. I really do enjoy getting reviews and would love ANY ideas on what should happen next in the story, *looks meaningfully down at the review button*. **

**Nelle07: Perhaps this chapter answered your question? I think there will be, but they are both characters that are quite flirty with each other so I imagine it may take more time for them to develop... We shall see *Mysterious smirk***

**Orca15: Gotta love Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, right! Thanks so much for the review, hope you liked this chapter!**


	18. Anticipation

**********Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.  
Lola and Trinity are original characters.**

**Anticipation:**

A couple days after my drinking session with Clint, the S.H.E.I.L.D. doctors cleared me for all activities. As soon as I found out I rushed into the common room and found the team converged in there, as usual.

"I'm cleared!" I announced, excited.

"Yay!" Cheered Lola half-heartedly. It was then I noticed all the serious faces around the room.

"What's happening?"

"Well, the other S.H.I.E.L.D analysts have finished going through the hard files and we have just decrypted the rest of the secure files we got in Switzerland" Lola replied heavily.

"So, what did you find?" I was hesitant to know the answer to that seeing the rest of the team's faces.

"Well, we already knew that their base is in England. We now know that they are planning strategic attacks all over the world, taking out important leaders to create total chaos, we know the leaders but we don't know the specific times or methods they will use to attack. It's bigger than we ever imagined and their boss appears to have access to practically unlimited funds, we're still not sure who the boss is though."

"Oh," was all I could manage, I slowly sank down into a chair and said, "so what do we do now?"

"Nothing for the moment, we have given all the information to director Fury and are waiting for his decision" Came Banner's somber reply

"How come I still haven't properly met the director, I mean I saw him for maybe a minute before Switzerland but I should actually meet him right?" I had been wondering this for a while as I heard quite a lot about him, and Tony's obvious dislike made me quite interested to know more about him.

"He's been off the helicarrier for a while now, dealing with some other business apparently, he did tell me he's looking forward to getting acquainted with you though"

"Oh, thanks Steve, I can't wait." Tony scoffed at that but Steve gave him a death glare and he just went back to working on his phone.

"Come on guys don't look so down, the worlds not over yet, all this means is we have time to have some fun before we get sent on the next mission! Who's with me?" Silence greeted Tony's words but slowly everyone stopped looking at the floor and looked around the room, I saw Lola shrug.

"You know what guys, he's right. There's nothing we can do right now so there no point getting down about it, I say everyone cheers up. NOW!" Lola started laughing as almost everyone had jumped at her loud outburst but I could see the whole team obviously agreed with her.

"Well, I don't care what you guys do now but I'm going to the gym, anyone want to spar?"

"I'll come, Barton," I chirped in to everyone's surprise "I need to exercise my shoulder and I believe I had a point to prove." With that I stood up smiling at Lola's inquisitive look and stood by the door, waiting for Clint.

"I do not feel the need to, as you Midgardians say, 'work out' right now but I would quite like to visit the feasting hall, does anybody wish to accompany me?"

"Feasting hall? Sounds like one of those old Roman places where hot women in togas fed lounging men on grapes... Seriously, if that is what it's like, I need to go live on Asgard. It's called the cafeteria big guy, and I'm in." There was a general nod of agreement and everyone trickled out of the room, I heard Thor trying to ask who these Roman's were as Bruce tried to make Tony's explanations less crude. As Lola walked by she winked at me, in what I'm _she_ thought was a subtle way, I just rolled my eyes. Barton still hadn't moved.

"Well? Are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, no need to rush. Why so eager to get your ass kicked?"

"Oh you wish, I have my powers this time too so you have no chance, Katniss." Feeling certain I could beat him I strode towards the gym and heard his light footsteps not far behind me and heard him mutter to himself.

"What is with all these archer nicknames?" I just smiled and walked into the gym.

I went to the cubbyholes by the side of the door and began to wrap my fingers and wrists because, as much as I would hate to admit it to him, last time my knuckles were pretty shredded. He followed suit, wrapping his hands next to me. We then sat down to do some stretching, it felt great to feel my muscles stretch and flex familiarly and I grinned. After a couple minutes of companionable silence, I hopped up.

"Alright, let's go." I enthused, positioning myself at the centre of the mat and holding out a hand and curling my fingers in a 'bring it on' kind of way.

"Hold your horses, Taylor." He smirked lazily at me as he stood up and got slowly into position opposite me.

"What, are you scared you aren't ready, Robin Hood?" I taunted, bouncing on my toes, getting myself ready to spar.

"Honey, you have no idea what you are getting yourself in for." He replied and moved suddenly, sweeping his leg to catch mine but I jumped just in time and landed a flying kick in his shoulder before landing.

I smirked, "Oh really?" I questioned innocently.

"Semper Paratus, hon'." He grunted as he landed a punch.

"Ooh looks like we have the coast guard out here, I'm terrified." I taunted as I ducked and weaved under his strikes.

"You should be," He replied as he managed to sweep my legs out, I landed on my back and quickly scissor cut with my legs and twisted, bringing him down too. I arched my back and flipped myself upright and stood over him just as he landed on his back.

"You were saying?"

He quickly got to his feet again, grinning slightly, and we began our dance of jabs and hooks and kicks as we circled each other, each landing as many blows as the other received. The longer we went, the easier it became to anticipate his moves and I could tell he felt the same. This made landing any blows all the more satisfying. Then I swept his legs out from under him but he pushed all his momentum forward and fell forward on top of me. I put my hands on his chest to push him up, his hands either side of my head supporting most of his weight, but something in his eyes stopped me.

I looked up and felt them boring into mine. I suddenly forgot where we were and could think of no valid reason why I would ever need to push him off of me. I felt my heart rate, which had been beginning to slow, pick up again as I looked at him. His eyes were a stormy grey with flecks of silver, surrounded by thick black lashes. I felt my breath catch in my throat as he began to lean closer and closer and his lips were so close to mine I could feel his breath against my own.

Then the alarm sounded.

**Oh I am sorry, this was a harsh one, even for me... Please still love me! I promise a happening chapter coming at some point... Any reviews or criticism... I really do love getting any plot ideas, especially when I am completely lost and unsure of where to go, which is unfortunately happening a lot recently *hint hint*. Please! I am not to proud to grovel... **

**ILoveReadingAndWriting: Yay! I'm so glad you liked it! I wanted them to have some fun banter because I didn't think either of them would be too mushy all the time... In time who knows what is in store for Clinity (a bit of a sad couple name I know, but hey! It is a promise of something happening with them... or is it *Dramatic music*)... Thanks for reviewing!**


	19. The Attack

**Attack: Trinity:**

As soon as the blaring siren that signaled the alarm sounded, both Hawkeye and I jumped up.

"What's going on?" I yelled over the blaring sirens.

"We're under attack"

"Shit" with that he pulled me out of the gym and dragged me down the corridor past technicians and analysts, all rushing to their stations. I was too worried to protest and knew I would probably get lost in a minute in all this chaos, "Where are we going?"

"To suit up and fight."

Just then we rounded a corner and Clint pulled me into one of the many armories on the helicarrier. I saw my suit, fully repaired, hanging on the wall. I grabbed it, trying not to be self-conscious as I got changed as fast as I could, luckily I found a pair of zip up boots which were a hell of a lot quicker to get on. I pulled my hair into a bun, as I always did when I needed to focus, and nodded to Clint as he deftly tossed me some weapons, which I caught. I then slung two sashes full of shuriken across my back. Lastly I placed an earpiece, Clint had somehow found, in my ear and immediately heard people giving commands; everything was in chaos and I still didn't really know what was going on.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Good, I need to get up to a high place, where I can actually be of use, and you need to join the main fight. Ask Lola for directions, I gotta go." He seemed to hesitate for a moment before adding, "Stay safe." I nodded quickly as he ran out of the room, took a moment to compose myself and rushed out of the room to join the fray.

* * *

"Okay, Trinity, you're almost there, just around this corner and you _should_ see Thor and Steve." I hurried around the corner and saw them there, battling against a mass of people all in black, with an array of knives and guns.

"Yeah I see them, so all I have to do is attack them, right?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, the ship was on the water to pick up supplies when they all just appeared out of nowhere and attacked. We don't know how many more are coming. So for now, just keep them away from the bridge."

"Okay Lola, I'm on it." I threw myself into the melee, dodging knives, and throwing stars with my mind at everyone I could see while trying to get some hard jabs in too. We all fought hard for a while and slowly we could tell we were winning, their numbers had dropped and I could hear through my earpiece that it was the same all over the ship. I focused again and threw a star at someone rounding the corner and quickly ducked as I saw Steve -out of the corner of my eye - throw his shield.

"What now?" I shouted over the continuing siren as we took the last few down, Thor had been summoned away to some other part of the ship to help the Hulk and try and keep him under control, as far as I knew but all my concentration had been on the battle, so I wasn't sure what else had happened.

"Let's get back to the bridge to regroup and find out who we're actually fighting."

I followed Steve swiftly and pulled all my stars back to my sash as I ran, trying to ignore the blood. We reached the bridge just as Tony walked in, still in his suit, and obviously disgruntled,

"I just had this repainted and now look!"

"Tony! We have bigger problems than that right now! As in how the hell did they find us and get so many people on board?" I was surprised at the authority in my voice and I could tell from his face that Tony was too.

"Good question, Ms Taylor, one which, at present, we don't have the answer to, now if you will all take a seat." I sat down quickly as the director paced up and down waiting for the others and obviously thinking.

About a minute later everyone had returned, apart from Bruce but when I went to say something Steve shook his head and said quietly, only for me to hear, "He needs some time after he, well… changes… to calm himself down, he'll join us later." I leaned back in my seat and nodded looking expectantly at Fury, as I could see he about to speak.

"Right, now that we are all here, I will start by saying we are - as of right now - not sure what happened or how our attackers got on board. We do know that they managed to get a virus into the system which delayed the alarm for long enough for them to spread themselves throughout the ship. Although we managed to defeat them, the ship took considerable damage and for the time being you will not be safe staying here. As soon as you're all ready to go, you will be moved to Stark Tower."

"WHAT? Oh, no offence to all of you really, but it's my tower ergo I get to choose who stays there, and as a matter of fact your all welcome but I would like a say when you dole out my private property for community use" Fury just looked at Tony, his one good eye seeming to say sit down and shut the fuck up, and surprisingly Tony complied.

"You are dismissed. Gather your belongings, you're all on the next jet out." I followed Lola back to our living quarters and couldn't help but be excited by the fact that I was going to live in that famous Stark Tower, even if it was with Tony.

**Hey, exciting chapter! I wonder what those annoying mutants want? Also, my updates may not be as regular but stay with me they will come... Again, love all the favourites and alerts, the novelty of getting a favourite or alert in my mailbox has yet to wear off. I also adore you reviewers! Keep up the good work... Story ideas are welcome... In fact they are encouraged *Heavy hinting*.**

**Cavazza: Ah thank you for your lovely review! Good idea with the unresolved tension, I may or may not use that *wink wink*. I agree, I love them as just the flirty bantery characters that they are. I hope you like where this chapter went with the alarms, your ideas are always greatly appreciated thanks!**

**Crazywong: Aww thanks. I'm glad you liked it!**

**Supernovaserenity: haha yeah, I'm sorry, but it was very necessary. **

**EverRose808: Thank you so much. *Evil laugh* I do like me some cliffhangers..**


	20. Moving

**************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.  
Lola and Trinity are original characters, ergo they are mine ALL MINE I TELL YOU! Muhahahahaha...**

**Moving: Trinity:**

S.H.I.E.L.D had somehow managed to procure a moving van so I could finally get all my clothes and stuff from my apartment. Ever since we were told we were moving in to Stark Tower I had been anxious to get my things. Steve had volunteered to come with me and help with the heavy lifting. Which was completely pointless seeing as I had object-moving powers, but it was a sweet gesture so I went with it anyway.

I got to my apartment and was forced to open the lock with my mind, seeing as I was rather rudely interrupted whilst searching for my keys last time I was here. The door swung open and I had a second of pride before my smirk dropped into a look of horror.

Steve and I stood in the doorway and looked at the remains of my apartment. It looked like the Tasmanian devil was let loose in there. All of my papers and documents were strewn across the floor and the sofa had been torn apart and cushions had been thrown carelessly across the room. I turned and saw that the small kitchen in the corner had faired no better. I walked to my room, which had also been ransacked. If they were looking for something they had obviously found it. I ran to my living room again and began searching frantically for my laptop that I knew for a fact had been on my coffee table. It was gone. It had all my research and papers on it and they had it, whoever they were.

"Well I suppose it was to be expected," I said dejectedly staring at the floor.

"What did they take?" I jumped slightly; having almost forgotten Steve was there.

"Just my laptop with all of my research and important data on it."

"Oh." I fought the urge to laugh at his puzzled expression as he no doubt tried to picture what a laptop could possibly be. "Well I guess that's another reason to find this base. So what are we taking to Stark towers?"

"Well, I wasn't going to take any furniture anyway but this makes it impossible anyway…" I trailed off looking around at the wreckage. "So, I was thinking, just my files on patients and cases as well as all of my clothes. So we can start by gathering all of the papers together and I will sort them out when we get to Stark's."

He nodded in agreement and we started collecting all of the papers littered around the room. I saw him looking at them curiously.

"So, what is it you do exactly?" He asked, looking puzzled.

"I am a neuroscientist, so I work with brains. Well, impulses really, but I have been trained for surgeries as well." I explained and he nodded. After another couple minutes of silence, as we collected the sheets, I looked up at him and had to ask. "What do you think you miss most about your life before all of this? I don't just mean before the ice, I mean before you even became a super soldier."

He looked up at me from where he was kneeling and tilted his head slightly, pondering the question. "Well, before I was this," He gestures at himself, "I got beaten up a lot, so I definitely don't miss that." We chuckled a bit at that, and he continued, "I guess I miss the simple stuff, like going out to ball games or going out to an expo with Bucky. There wasn't a lot of time for that after I got changed, and I can't get drunk anymore, no matter how hard I try, something to so with my metabolism, I don't really understand."

"Huh, I guess not." I said as I smiled at him and he returned one, albeit a saddened version.

"I-I like your voice." He blurted out and his face blushed scarlet with embarrassment. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, my voice? He hastily added an explanation, "Your voice, just the way you say things, it sounds like Peggy's, I liked her voice too. It is calming."

"Ah, I get it, she was British. Who was Peggy?" I asked as I continued to pick up sheets on the floor, moving to place them in a neat pile on the coffee table.

"She is – was, well. She was an awful lot like you. She was tough and smart. She worked in the military, sort of…" He trailed off, his eyes glowing slightly as he reminisced about Peggy.

"So, you and her, were you…" I struggled finding the word. "Together?"

"We could have been. But then I crashed before we could go on a date, she kissed me right beforehand and that was all."

"That is a shame," I said, unsure of how to comfort him.

"Yeah, it is. But I like your voice." He answered, smiling shyly at me.

We continued gathering papers in a comfortable silence, I broke off halfway through to go and pack my clothes as Steve put all of the remaining papers and documents in boxes we had in the van. I then started wrapping up some pictures. Carefully wrapping them in bubble wrap. Steve started helping once he had carried the boxes to the van. He looked at all of the photos and settled his gaze on one. _The_ one.

"Who is that?" He asked curiously, pointing at the picture. I looked over at it, though I knew I didn't need to look to know what I would see. It was a picture of a much younger me, just turned 16, with her arms wrapped around a boy with crazy brown hair and bright green eyes. We are both laughing and looking directly into the camera's lens.

"That's Dylan." I said, gazing at the picture. He must have seen something in my eyes.

"Were you, together?" He asked repeating my question to him.

I smiled, "Always. Practically since birth." I saw the silent question in his eyes and continued. "We grew up together, he lived next door, best friends forever we used to tell each other. Then we started going out in high school, it was odd at first but it was right, you know? Then, he got sick." I felt tears build up behind my eyes, but pushed on, I needed to get this out, "The doctors diagnosed him with a rare form of brain cancer. He was given 3 months without chemo and 5 with it. They told him that it comes on quickly and there is no known cure. He didn't do chemo because they told him the effects and he knew the quality of life without it would be far better. That photo was taken a few weeks before he was diagnosed. He died when he was only 17 and his last day was spent in a hospital. I lost the love of my life and my best friend on the same day."

The tears were running steadily down my face now and then I felt Steve wrap his arms around me, hesitant at first and then tighter when he realized I wasn't pulling away. I hadn't told anyone that story, I hadn't needed to; my family and everyone in my school had known it. It had always been festering inside of me and it felt good to tell someone who didn't know him, I still missed him so much.

"I guess I can relate to losing your best friend and someone you care about all in one day." He said as he patted my back soothingly.

"Yeah," I said, drawing back, "I guess you can. He is the reason I became a neurosurgeon, the fact that there was no _known_ cure was what got me. I knew that I wanted to become a neuroscientist so that no one else would have to go through losing a friend or family member because of that ever again."

He nodded in understanding and took the frame from my hands and began wrapping it carefully. I turned and went to my bathroom to freshen up, my eyes were only slightly swollen so I splashed water on my face and took some deep breaths.

"I'm sorry for dumping all of that on you." I apologized as I walked into the room again.

"Never apologize for that." He said sternly, and added, "I asked, anyway, I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me."

I smiled at him and went to tape the last box and he picked it up and I stood glancing around the room, the furniture was still wrecked and present, yet it looked empty and didn't feel like home, not that it ever had. I sighed and turned, wondering when anywhere would ever feel like home, and closed the door.

Steve was waiting in the passenger side of the small moving van. I hopped in and started the ignition. I smiled to myself as an idea struck me. I drove to a parking lot nearby and got out, Steve followed suit looking confused.

"I figured we could use a simple break from all the stress of life, so I brought us here." I gestured to the park in front of me.

"A park?"

"A park where there just happens to be a little leagues game every Saturday afternoon, and guess what day it is!"

He smiled and looked wistfully into the park "Won't they miss us?"

"A couple hours can't hurt anyone, and I have my phone if they need to contact us." I replied.

He grinned at me and, always a gentleman, held out his arm. I linked my arm with him and we strolled into the park.

"Back to the simple things for a while." He said to me, already looking more relaxed.

**I thought that there should be a little more character building, and that she should open up and bond more with the rest of her team. Don't worry, we are going to find out what is happening with the mutants and why they are all attacking and who is their leader etc. very soon. **

**Orca15: Thank you so much for your lovely review... Actually thanks for reviewing at all! Ah Clint and Trinity will have a lot of flirtatious tension, as for Trinity and Tony... Let's just say you may like the next chapter. **

**Cavazza: Thanks as always for your review and advice, it is much appreciated. Ah, yes the mysterious assailants and the chalet people... All will be revealed in a few chapters and hopefully it will make more sense then! Hope we don't lose you along the way, it will make sense! Promise! I hope...**

**ILoveReadingAndWriting: Thank you so much for those archer names, much needed, my supply was becoming depleted. And yes, there will be a couple more chapters of team bonding before you find out who this shady lady truly is... Or do you *Dramatic music*. Thank you as always for your lovely reviews.**

**Nelle07: Yes, I thought that some unresolved Clinity tension would be a lovely cliff hanger *Evil laugh*, thanks for reviewing!**

**AyaAndKaoru12321: AH! I know right! Hawkeye is the best! I love your name then, and thank you so much for reading and reviewing my story! Don't worry, I am writing as fast as my fingers permit me to! **


	21. Stark Tower

******************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Stark Tower: Trinity:**

It had been a couple of days since the baseball game with Steve. Since then, we were much more comfortable around each other and I had somehow become his go-to person for anything he didn't understand. I think this mainly was due to the fact that he didn't get on too well with Stark, Banner confused him with long winded explanations, Thor was just as clueless as him, Lola wasn't the most concise person and Clint wasn't around too much. It didn't bother me too much and he was a quick learner.

Tony had generously provided us with a floor per person, fully equipped with a small kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. It was bigger than my apartment with a much better view. I had woken up early this morning and walked out of the elevator into the top floor of the building where the communal kitchen was. We spent a lot of time in the main living room area of the tower, which was on the top floor. Everyone except Tony (who was always in his workshop or trying to get us drunk) devoted most of their time going through files, searching for any clues that could point us in the right direction to who had attacked the helicarrier. So far we hadn't come up with anything.

Bruce was the only one up so far; he was sitting at the breakfast bar nursing a mug of coffee and poring over some familiar looking papers.

"Morning!" I called over to him, and he jumped slightly giving me a guilty look.

"You're up early." He said, glancing down at his papers. As I neared I looked down and saw that they were some of my research papers. I raised an eyebrow at him and he smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't resist looking, I am sorry, once a doctor, always a doctor."

I chuckled at that and went to poor myself a mug of coffee. "I don't mind really, did you find anything interesting?"

"Actually, I thought of a few ideas for you." He said, turning the file back open again to the page he was at.

"Anything you can suggest will be much appreciated, I have been looking for so long that I think I lost the ability to be objective." I said, sitting on the counter across from him.

"Well, have you ever considered using Gamma Radiation?" He asked.

"I have, but the position of the tumour makes it difficult to target specifically without risk of damaging the outer tissue of the brain."

"Yes but you could use a gamma-knife surgery and it could target that specific point. If you use a high-dose exposure then the tissues that you may hit will have a better chance of repairing."

"Yeah, but Rothkamm and Lobrich used a different study than what this is. There is no way of knowing how the high doses of radiation would affect the brain tissues. They may become too damaged to send signals to repair itself."

"That is true, but you don't know that." He commented, "Why haven't you started a clinical trial yet? "

"I don't have enough research done, I haven't-"

"Yes you do, what are you waiting for?" He cut me off, looking me straight in the eye as he asked, "What are you afraid of Trinity?"

I looked down and sighed, "Do you know the percentage of people who die in clinical trials, before we get it right?"

He nodded slowly, "But I have a feeling that you know as well as I do, how many more people could benefit from this procedure. When it works." I nodded, "No one likes the trial phase, but it is a necessary part of the job. You can do it."

"Thanks." I said, and mean it. "I guess I will have to put that off now anyway, we have so much else to figure out and I have no idea when I'll have a chance to get back to my real job."

He nodded into his mug and passed me the file, which he had just been reading; apparently he had said all he wanted to say about it.

"That's true but being here isn't too bad is it? And have we made any progress yet?" he asked

I shook my head, "No its not." I said smiling "But we are getting close, Lola's hacking every powerful British person's computers daily. That has to be so beyond illegal but she is far too good to ever get caught."

"It scares you sometimes doesn't it." He stated knowingly.

"I don't know how you stay so calm through all of this." I sighed

"Well it isn't like I have much of a choice," He smiled ruefully, "and I think being around Tony has built up my tolerance for surprises and stress."

"I guess being around Tony you would have to build up some kind of immunity." I agreed.

"Doctors, how you wound me!" Tony's voice came from where he had just stepped out of the elevator.

"Speak of the devil." I joked, glancing at Tony.

"I would prefer Satan's little helper, it has a nicer ring to it." He answered, walking to the coffee pot, "Hey Doc, fetch my mug will you?"

I sighed and levitated his mug out of the cupboard towards him, "What did your last slave die of?"

"I didn't know you were dead, Trinity." Bruce chuckled as I whacked Tony over the back of his head. "Why do people always feel the need to do that?" He demanded.

"Maybe you just deserve it more than most." Bruce reasoned, trying to keep a straight face.

"I do not! JARVIS, do I deserve it more than most?"

"According to the number of remarks you make that warrant being hit on the head, compared to the rest of the avengers, yes, you do sir."

Bruce and I burst out laughing at the AI unit's reply. It had taken some getting used to hearing JARVIS's voice just coming out of seemingly nowhere, but it was another thing that became part of the daily routine, like hitting Tony Stark and discussing gamma radiation with Bruce Banner.

"Treacherous little…I built you from nothing" Tony began muttering as he walked to the computers set up in the corner waking them up.

Bruce and I just shared a smirk and I set about making myself some breakfast. Just an average morning for me now.

**Okay, so I'm going to start off by saying Gamma Radiation is not - in any way shape or form - my forte. I used wikipedia in the hopes that it was right and would look semi-knowledgeable. Secondly, this is just a small filler chapter, I just had to have some doctor bonding and Tony somehow got himself in there too... Anyway, thanks for the continued favourites and alerts and, of course, reviews! **

**Supernovaserenity: Ah thank you so much, I always need some good nicknames especially as I am trying not to use the same one too much! And, thank you for loving the story!**

**AyaAndKaoru12321: Thank you so much! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations! There will be more Hawkeye in later chapters... Of course!**

**Samlily41: Thank you so much for taking the time to review, and thanks! **

**ELECTRA13: Wow, thanks so much! I update as often as I can, and rest assured there should be a lot more scenes with those two coming up!**


	22. In The Loop

**********************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**In The Loop: Lola:**

I walked into the living room to find Trinity, Bruce and Clint sat down around the big glass coffee table, each of them claiming one of the three enormous couches. The reason as to why Tony Stark had such a huge sofa, let alone three, was beyond me. It wasn't as if he was the most sociable of people before the Avengers. But there was no way I was complaining because they were exceptionally comfortable. I looked and saw Clint sitting on the sofa against the wall, it gave him a clear view of all exits as well as the elevator, and of course he would want to be able to see everything. I walked over and threw myself on the sofa next to him, lying so my head was at the other end and I lazily draped my feet on his lap. I resisted the urge to giggle as he shot me a glare, looking pointedly at my feet.

"My feet hurt."

"And, what would you like me to do about it?" He asked, his voice slightly annoyed but I could see the amusement lurking in his eyes.

"Hmmm, I think a foot rub would just about do it." I smirked raising an eyebrow. He glared at me, "Your looks won't make me quail."

He sighed and I burst out laughing, "Get it, quail, the bird and the word and your Hawkeye! Wow I'm good. You don't know how long I have been _sitting_ on that one."

"Oh you are ever so punny Lola." He deadpanned, his face was like stone but I stuck my tongue out at him and his lips twitched. "So, what if I don't give you a foot rub?"

"Well, I have been told I am quite the comedian, see there is this one joke…" I trailed off as he grabbed my foot and laughed. I heard Trinity and Bruce's amused chuckles from across the room, although I could see Trinity was quite tense and her eyes were fixed on Clint. I felt Clint's suppressed laugh vibrate through his hands as he began to rub my feet. I smiled contentedly to myself, grabbed a pillow from behind me and stuffed it under my neck, closing my eyes as he continued.

"So anything new?" I asked casually, not opening my eyes.

"Well when we looked over the surveillance cameras we saw that the a couple of the assailants looked familiar to some of us. Mainly to Thor, Steve and Tony. They recognized them from fighting them in Switzerland." Clint said, still massaging my foot.

"So, the two attacks were connected? They were the same people, mutants?" I asked.

"That is how it seems, yes." Trinity nodded.

"So we have narrowed down the search a little once we tracked down what weapons they had used for _both _attacks and found out possible locations they had been supplied from." Bruce summarized as he continued to work on the tablet in his hand.

"Well that is good, can't be too many suppliers, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Well, the thing is, this company has bases and factories all over the world…" Trinity trailed off, but I caught her meaning.

"Oh, well, we will just have to go through every one." I sat up and grabbed Clint's discarded tablet before lying back down again and holding out my other foot. He gave an exasperated sigh and began to massage the other one. I started typing into the tablet, pulling up all of the factory details, narrowing them down until I was looking at the ones within the vicinity of where we suspected the mutant base to be. Just then, the elevator doors open and I glanced over to see Tony, Thor and Steve file in.

"Heya, what lured you out of the bat cave?" I asked Tony, still draped across the couch, with my feet still in Clint's lap.

"Well, I had this idea…" Tony began,

"Uh, oh." Clint interrupted, smirking.

"Well, I think we should get to know each other more." Tony continued, unperturbed by the archers input.

"And how do you propose we go about doing that?" Trinity asked, her face skeptical.

"I am so glad you asked, Doctor Taylor." He grinned and disappeared for a moment before returning with four bottles of vodka, and seven shot glasses. He then plonked himself down on the couch next to Bruce. Steve sat next to Trinity and Thor sat next to Steve. He set up the glasses in a row and looked up at us. "We are going to play Truth or Dare."

"O, Bozhe" I muttered in Russian, sitting up. Clint chuckled at my Oh God and nodded slightly in agreement to the sentiment.

"What is this game?" Thor asked, Steve nodded as well to show their mutual confusion.

"Basically, you spin the bottle and you get to ask whoever it lands on a question or give them a dare and then it is their turn." He explained, and then added, "When the question reaches the person who started asking we all have to take a shot."

I met Bruce's eye and we rolled our eyes at Tony's embellishment to the game. "JARVIS, finish my work and send me updates on this tablet please." I muttered quietly to the tablet and set it aside after getting a silent confirmation alert on the screen.

"Alright then," was surprised when Steve was the first to agree to this plan, "I can't get drunk anymore, but this could be a good team building exercise." Ah, there was the captain we all knew.

"I don't have a reason why not..." was Trinity's response.

"This sounds like a worthy game." Boomed Thor.

"I'm game." Bruce stated calmly.

"Why not." I smirked.

"Hey now, you are only 19, this is illegal." Tony said.

"Oh yeah, because that's stopped you before Tony." Jibed Trinity and then she nodded at me, "In England it is legal to drink at 18, I'm sure she will be fine. Besides, I hardly doubt this is her first time drinking."

"I don't know what you mean."

Clint shrugged and nodded, "I'm in too, but watch out for Trinity she sure can hold her liquor."

"Yes!" Tony punched the air triumphantly before pouring out seven shots of very expensive vodka and sliding them over to each person. "I will go first, then" He span the bottle and it landed on Bruce, Tony cackled. "Ah, my favorite rage against the machine, Truth or Dare?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "I am not stupid enough to tell you dare, so truth."

"Well, I read your file and it said you got arrested when you were young. Why?" I leaned forward slightly to listen to this answer.

"Well," He looked slightly sheepish; "When I was in high school I stole the acid from the school lab and burnt rude shapes into the sides of buildings and into the ground. I got arrested for defacing public property and theft."

It was silent for a minute and then we all burst out laughing, Bruce even allowed his younger self a small chuckle. He reached out and spun the bottle. It landed on Thor. "Truth or Dare Thor?"

"Dare!" He boomed.

Bruce smiled devilishly, and I had never seen that look on his face before, "Do you remember that nursery rhyme we taught you? Sing it. With the actions."

A couple of seconds later we were rolling on the floor laughing at Thor with his hand on his hip daintily acting out the words to 'I'm a little teapot". When we had composed ourselves and Thor had spun the bottle, it landed on Tony.

"Truth or Dare, son of Stark."

"Dare." He replied in a 'bring it on' kind of tone. Thor looked slightly confused for a second and then Trinity leaned behind Steve and whispered something into Thor's ear and he grinned slightly and nodded.

"You must allow the women to paint your face as the mortal women do while having your eyes closed." He said as we all burst out laughing at the incredulous look on Tony's face.

"Yes Taylor!" I cried triumphantly and ran to the shared bathroom to get my makeup kit.

We started on Tony, giving him garish eye shadow and bright red lips with bright pink blusher on his cheeks. We stepped back to admire our handy work and the men all but fell off of their sofas with laughter. Clint pulled out a phone and snapped a picture, no doubt saving it for later use, as blackmail.

"All right, all right." Tony huffed, spinning the bottle so it landed on Trinity, he smiled devilishly, "Ahh Doctor, revenge will be sweet. Truth or dare sweetheart?"

"I am not stupid enough to say Dare, especially after that, so Truth it is."

"If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one person in this room, who would it be and why?"

Trinity seemed to contemplate this for a moment, looking at each of the people in the room, sizing them up. "Bruce, because he is smart enough to know how to get us both off the island without annoying me to no end, like some might," She looked pointedly at Stark, "and he has been off the grid before and would know best how to survive on said island. Also we would have interesting conversations."

"Boring…" he complained, Trinity rolled her eyes and span the bottle, obviously trying to move the conversation on. I glanced over at Bruce who had a shy but happy smile on his face. The bottle landed on Clint who sighed almost imperceptibly next to me, bracing himself for whatever was coming.

"Truth or Dare, Barton?" She challenged.

He quirked an eyebrow, "Truth."

At this Tony immediately bolted upright, leaning over and whispering in Trinity's ear, she rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless. Her eyes never left Clint's as she asked "If you and Natasha are just friends why? Because she is" She glanced at Tony then back at Clint as she used her fingers to emphasize, "'Piping hot', as Tony so eloquently put it. He thinks you are 'tapping that' and wants to know if not, why you aren't because that is a 'perfectly good waste'"

Tony lounged back into the sofa, smirking contentedly at the fact that his question had finally been asked.

"Well, Nat and I… We are such good partners that it is a bad idea to be anything else. Sure at the beginning we could have, but now we work too well together to compromise that. Sorry Tony, but I am not 'tapping that' contrary to popular belief. She may be 'piping hot' but she is just a friend… if that is the right word for it…" He rolled his eyes one more time before reaching for the bottle, it span and landed on me. I gulped audibly as Clint turned slowly to face me with a huge smirk on his face.

"Would now be a good time to reiterate that any prank I have _ever_ pulled on you or joke I have told about you were all because we are great friends and I love you oh-so-much?" I asked, hating the fact that my voice went upwards at the end, betraying my fear.

"Lola, Lola, Lola." He chuckled menacingly, rubbing his palms together like the villains in old cartoons, "I do believe I finally may get my revenge, Truth or Dare, sweetheart?"

I shut my eyes in a show of dread, "Well, if I am going down, might as well make it big huh? Dare, birdman. Hit me!"

I looked at him and knew that that was exactly what he wanted to here, he grinned again, "Rowes, my sweet, sweet Rowes, do I have a dare for you..."

His words trailed off, as there was a familiar ping of the elevator hitting our floor. The doors swung open to show Natasha Romanoff.

**Hiya, so basically I'm sorry to leave you on a bit of a cliff hanger... BUT, I can promise that Natasha brings news, almost everything is revealed in the next chapter. Sounds great right... Well I am away without my computer or any internet access for a week after today so, this is the last update for a week, but I promise the day I get back will be the day I update. Please stay with me and keep the reviews coming! **

**Viktorskrumpet: Thank you so much for your lovely review, it really made my day. I tried to make her a strong character because I have read some where the female protagonist is a little bit of a wet blanket, which really annoyed me, so your comment really made me proud. Thank you for reading!**

**AyaAndKaoru12321: I tried, this is the longest one yet so there is that! Hope you enjoyed it, I know I enjoyed getting your review! **

**Little Weasley Girl: Ah! Yay, you are back, thank you for all of your reviews, as always! I hope you like the team bonding, I thought that they would work together better if they knew more about each other! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**


	23. Natasha's News

**************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Natasha's News: Lola:**

When the familiar red head strode in I immediately stood up, on high alert. Clint stood too, as did Bruce, Thor, Steve and eventually Tony and Trinity, though the latter with more evident curiosity.

"Romanoff, what's wrong? Have you been compromised?" Clint asked, serious as ever, but with a barely tangible undercurrent of worry.

"Nat!" I exclaimed, rushing over to the red head and throwing my arms around her, she returned the hug, albeit less enthusiastically. "Ты в порядке? Почему ты здесь?"

"Я в порядке." She replied, soothing me momentarily before turning to face the others, "I had important information and I don't trust the couriers."

Clint, Tony and I shared a short snigger. Natasha didn't trust anyone, besides her team, and she didn't really trust us either. They nodded at Natasha and Thor stooped down to give her a bone-crushing hug, she took it in her stride and patted him on the arm.

"Agent Romanoff, long time no see." Tony remarked before plopping himself back down on a sofa. I went to join him as everyone took their seats around the table until Natasha was the only one left standing.

"Where is Fury?"

"Still on the helicarrier, overseeing the rebuilding." Supplied Bruce, "I will go get him on video chat, this sounds big."

She nodded curtly at him as he disappeared. We were all just sitting there and Trinity looked slightly uncomfortable as she stared at the floor, looking like she would have rather gone with Banner to call Fury.

"Hawkward…" I sang. Tony, Clint, Natasha and Trinity rolled their eyes at the same time, the twilight zone theme tune played in my head.

"Who's the new girl?" Nat asked me in Russian.

"She is that British mutant which you warned us about. She can move stuff with her mind." I replied in kind, and then added in English, "Way cool."

"So, what is she like?"

"She is really nice, but in a badass way, I think you will like her." I replied.

"Well she may not like you if you keep talking about her in a different language, which she obviously doesn't understand, while in front of her." Clint chimed in, also in Russian.

"Oh, shut up, Barton. I am just gathering intelligence before I meet her." She retorted. He rolled his eyes at her.

"He is just sore because he is soft on her." I muttered to Natasha who arched an eyebrow in a show of contemplation, and before Clint could lunge at me – like he was doubtless plotting, going by the murderous look on his face – I turned to Trinity who looked both confused and irritated and said in English, "Sorry, how rude of us. This is Natasha Romanoff, you know, badass assassin slash spy slash very good drinking buddy."

Natasha rolled her eyes at the last bit and stepped forward to shake Trinity's hand.

"Hi, I'm Trinity."

"A pleasure, I'm sure."

"I'm not so sure." Natasha raised her eyebrows at that, seemingly impressed. Whoo go Trinity, I cheered inwardly. Natasha, so I am told, is not an easy person to impress. I just sort of went up to her and said hi and she and I became close. Not braid your hair at sleepovers whilst watching romcoms and discussing guys close, but close as an assassin and a computer geek can be.

"Lola, how can you speak Russian?" Trinity asked, evidently still confused and not taking her eyes of Natasha.

"Well my grandparents were Russian and they taught my mother when she was growing up here and she taught me." I replied simply and she nodded, "I also speak Spanish, because that was mandatory at school, and Japanese because my Mom was convinced they will take over the world and it would be useful to know the language."

"Ah, I see…" She said nodding vaguely.

Just then the screen with Fury's face on it popped up in the living room and we all hushed up.

"Agent Romanoff, there had better be a damn good reason you are here. You could be blowing your cover wide open if you were found here or even seen anywhere near _any_ of these people."

"As you all may know, I have been infiltrating the group that came to attack you in Switzerland, and again on the helicarrier, it took a while but they accepted me into their top fold." I chuckled to myself, noting her look of annoyance at the fact that they wouldn't accept her instantly. "I knew I had to come as soon as I found out. Their leader is Aileen Evans."

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room, bar Thor and Steve.

"I knew I couldn't trust her!" Tony burst out, I nudged him to shut up.

I saw Thor and Steve's continued confusion and rolled my eyes, "Aileen Evans runs Evans Corp. is Stark Industries main competition. They are the second largest name in green energy at the moment."

Tony smirked at the 'second' and Thor and Steve nodded gratefully at my brief explanation and turned back to Natasha.

"Aileen's parents were supposedly killed in a car crash. Or that was the official story. I found out that they were both mutants; they were killed after being tested on by Clarence Turner. She now wants revenge for her family."

"Good God. The Clarence Turner?" Fury questioned Natasha, who nodded.

"The same one who was a top S.H.I.E.L.D researcher before he went rogue, due to not getting the grant he needed to help create another super soldier serum. The serum he was researching would cause mutations in the genes of those which the serum would be administered on." Natasha confirmed. Tony gave out a low whistle and Steve looked uncomfortable at the mention of a person trying to replicate the serum used to enhance him.

"So I guess that he used real people with natural mutations and tested them in an attempt to isolate and harness that mutant gene. That is why Aileen Evans's parents were used by this Turner guy." Surmised Trinity.

"Damn." Said Clint.

"This is all very well, but it still doesn't explain why she is attacking S.H.I.E.L.D and targeting us…" Stark pointed out.

"Unless…" began Bruce hesitantly.

"… Unless S.H.I.E.L.D _did_ give him the grant, meaning that these poor innocent people were killed on S.H.I.E.L.D's, and therefore the Government's, dime. That is just such a S.H.I.E.L.D thing to do, isn't it?"

"Stark…" Fury attempted to interject.

Tony held up a hand and stood up and began pacing, we all watched him, following him with our eyes. "Let me guess, you saw what Turner was capable of and prepared to do. You got cold feet and pulled his funding. Ah! But you had to have done it when he was halfway into his research because that is the testing phase. Therefore he had enough theory to be tested to be able to go rogue and perform his own experiments. So Evans is targeting S.H.I.E.L.D and, at this point, I can see why. What I don't understand is why target _us_?"

Tony's explanation began turning cogs in my mind and I found myself speaking up.

"Don't you see Tony? The Avengers aren't just S.H.I.E.L.D's greatest _weapon_. It is also their biggest _weakness_. The Avengers are the symbol of hope and freedom across the world, thanks to the events of Manhattan, but that is the point: This initiative is a worldwide phenomenon. One event could tarnish the initiative's reputation, meaning it could result in a lack of support for S.H.I.E.L.D itself, resulting in their funding being revoked. They are hitting everywhere they can to find a weakness, explaining both the chalet attack and the helicarrier."

Tony nodded in agreement, evidently catching on to my wavelength. "That is true, and they would also be targeting Governmental figures, especially those who support the very existence of this organization. So that is who we need to protect from S.H.I.E.L.D's stupid mistake."

He directed his final comment at Fury, who looked defeated.

"JARVIS, hack into S.H.I.E.L.D's database and find their key investors." I told the AI unit.

"Ms Rowes, I would like to remind you that I am still the director of this organization and you can not just…"

Tony interrupted Fury's splutters, "Yes she can, after all we have done for you! Even at this very moment we are helping your organization. Though I can't think why."

JARVIS's cool voice filtered through the speakers, "Ms Rowes, your research from earlier is also complete, I have taken the liberty of pinpointing the weapon's manufacturing factories on a map, it will be pulled up to be displayed in 3D momentarily. Should I also display a list of the people investing in S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"Yes JARVIS, and pinpoint them on the same map too please." I said, looking up as a holographic image of the map of England popped up with about 3 dots on it, marking the position of the factories. Then dots came up one by one of all of the investors. "Ms. Rowes, it turns out this committee of people are convening at a summit meeting in London in a week. They will all be there at the same time."

"So that is when they will strike." Steve said grimly. "And that is where we will be."

"Aye, Aye Cap'n." I gave him a mock salute whilst everyone else nodded, the mood somber.

"S.H.E.I.L.D will provide you with transport to England." Fury told us.

Tony rolled his eyes and replied, "I am not taking a nine hour flight on some military plane. I have a private jet, which we will be using. As for S.H.I.E.L.D, you guys can stand by. If the grownups need you, we will call."

Fury rolled his eye and his image disappeared.

"All right guys, looks like we are going to England! Pack heavy, we will be there a while." Tony announced before striding out of the room to the elevator with the rest of us not too far behind.

**Hello my lovelies, I am back! I'm sorry for such a long wait for this chapter, I hope you are still with me and it was worth the wait! So I hope you like where this is going, if you have ANY suggestions believe me when I say they are always much needed/appreciated. Thank you again for alerts and favourites!**

**Little Weasley Girl: Yay! I am glad to hear you liked that one, and ahhh Trinity may or may not have been a tad jealous... Time will definitely tell! **

**Supernovaserenity: Thank you so much! I thought it needed to be done, and YES! Garrett Hedlund as Finnick would be THE best thing for the sequel! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Mari: Thanks for reviewing again! Yes, well her reaction to the game doesn't really come for another couple of chapters. They have a lot to do before then but it should be an interesting couple of chapters, I hope you enjoy them!**

**Nelle07: Yes, having Nat back really will cause a lot of moments where you think 'If only she walked in just 5 minutes later!'. Very useful. Thanks for reviewing, as always!**

**Viktorskrumpet: Ah thank you, I do try. I love Lola and Barton's interactions as well. They are always amusing to write and play against each other as they are so different. I am glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reviewing!**

**laurenrulez1: Thanks for the review, and I will try to be as frequent as I can! **


	24. London Calling

**************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**London Calling: Trinity:**

Stark's private jet was incredible to say the least; the seats were huge and the bar was bigger. We were all sitting around talking about Aileen Evans with Tony continuously interrupting just to tell us that he knew she was evil all along. I was sitting between Bruce and Clint and I could feel the tension radiating off of Bruce, he was obviously worried about what could happen if the 'other guy' decided to make an appearance. Clint on the other hand was surprisingly relaxed, more so than I had ever seen him but according to Lola that was because he knew Natasha was safe. I didn't want to be jealous of how much he obviously cared about her but I couldn't help myself. I also couldn't stop thinking about what might have happened if the alarm _hadn't_ gone off on the helicarrier, most likely nothing but still...

"So err quick question, where are we all going to stay once we get to England?" I turned my attention back to the conversation and saw that everyone was pretty much waiting for Tony to declare he had a mansion there, but he didn't.

"What? I don't have a house in England! They have good hotels and I don't go there often, so why bother?"

"Great" I heard Natasha sigh "A team of superheroes, who can't exactly check into a hotel, with nowhere to go."

I felt it was time I said something but I had been really hoping I wouldn't have to, "Well I guess we could stay at my parents house, they are away in Peru all year, I think. It's on the edge of London so not too far from the hotel," I said quietly, almost hoping they wouldn't hear, I had a feeling that the avengers wouldn't be the best of houseguests, especially Tony.

"That sounds great Trinity," said Bruce, obviously thankful to have some of his stress relieved

"Ohh we get to see where you grew up, how exciting" said Barton with a devilish grin.

"Hmm yeah… yay for me… But I am telling you all now, if you mess it up I _will_ throw all of you out." I gave Tony a pointed look and he looked around incredulously.

"I have no idea what you're implying!"

Steve sighed then smiled gratefully at me and I couldn't help but smile back at his honest face.

"So how about it Thor? Up for seeing more of Midgard?"

"Yes Lola, I am indeed. I cannot wait to see the place where Trinity was raised."

I smiled meekly; knowing I was not going to enjoy this and decided to try and get some sleep even though I knew it would be impossible.

* * *

"Oh my god, Taylor! This house is like, gigantic! Why didn't you tell us you were loaded?"

"Because, Lola, I'm not, my parents are."

"Oh come on, it's the same thing."

"No it really,_ really_ isn't" I strode inside after quickly finding the spare key and disabling the alarm. Lola, Clint and Bruce were all looking at the house in awe, Natasha's face remained expressionless and Thor and Steve were unpacking the hired car.

So my house was bigger than most, big deal, it was nothing compared to Stark Tower and it didn't make me a different person, but people always treated me differently after they found out my parents were rich.

"Hurry up and come inside before I lock you all out." At that they all hurried in and I began the tour

* * *

"Sorry but there are only 6 bedrooms some of you will have to share, it's my house so I'm in my room, Lola will you share with Natasha?" I saw Natasha's head snap up at the mention of her name and Lola nod in acceptance, "Okay good, now the boys, two of you will have to share so you need to decide that now."

"I will share" Steve said immediately which is what I had expected but there were no other volunteers. Tony just stood there pouting and Clint was staring at me, pleading with me not to make him share with Steve. I knew he couldn't handle all-American golden boy all the time. Thor just looked confused and was still looking at all the pictures of my family on the wall not paying attention. After a silence that went on a bit too long Bruce sighed,

"I don't mind sharing with you Steve, if you don't mind sharing with me."

"Of course not Dr Banner, I would be honored."

"Right then, choose your rooms and unpack." Everyone filed off to find a room they liked and Tony practically sprinted to ensure he got the biggest one, unlucky for him he went the wrong way. I reached the door to my room just as Clint did too.

"No way Hawkeye, that is my room"

"Oh, sorry." then after he didn't move away, "Can I see it?"

"Wh- what?" I stuttered in surprise.

"Can I see your room? I just want to see where you grew up, I never saw your apartment so I don't really know what stuff you like."

"Err I don't really know what to say to that…" I began but, seeing his face drop slightly in disappointment, added, "but if you really want to then okay, but don't tell Tony, I do not want him in here"

"I promise" He replied earnestly with his hand over his heart. I rolled my eyes and pushed the door open. My room was the same as it had been when I was 16 and I cringed at the posters on the wall. The walls were lilac and mostly covered with photos, I had some knick-knacks on my shelves but apart from that it looked bare, my wardrobe empty and my bed with no sheets on. As Clint looked around I looked at a group of photos from my 16th birthday party, mostly large group shots but there were also quite a few of me a Dylan. As I looked at them I fought hard not to cry but a few tears escaped my self-imposed dam. We looked so happy in the photos and I couldn't remember ever feeling that happy since he died. I tried to wipe my eyes and compose myself before Clint noticed but it was impossible. He was suddenly by my side pulling me away from the wall and into a strong hug.

"Steve told me about Dylan, I'm so sorry." I just cried silently all the while trying to stop. After about a minute I had composed myself and looked up at Clint smiling weakly.

"Sorry, it's just I haven't seen those photos in years and I still miss him"

"Don't apologize, really it's fine, I'll leave you to unpack and meet downstairs."

"Thanks." was all I could manage as I wiped the tears from my cheeks, he smiled but before he left the room I added "Tell anyone about this and I will end you."

"I'd like to see you try" he replied smirking as he left, and shutting the door behind him. I sat still for a while, calming myself then went to the bathroom to hide any signs of my crying and went downstairs to meet everyone.

* * *

The next morning the plan was ready, and me Clint and Lola were driving towards the hotel. I had wanted to take the underground to get there faster but Clint didn't want to as it meant he couldn't always see everyone, typical. So instead, I was driving us there, Clint got in with the hope of driving before remembering what side of the road we drive on in England.

We had stayed up late devising a plan and today we were just getting a look at the hotel to help us prepare for the real fight next week. I was only going because I knew London well but I was glad to get out of the house, Clint and Natasha had flipped a coin as they had both wanted to go and, lucky for me, Clint had won. Natasha and I still hadn't really talked, and if I'm honest with myself, she kind of scared me. Lola had elected herself to come with us as she was already getting bored. She wanted to be involved and, as she so helpfully pointed out, was the only one of us able to hack into the hotels main computer, except for Tony who was far too high profile for this reconnaissance mission.

We were waiting outside the hotel watching everyone who was going in and out when Lola said,

"Right. So you know what you're doing, right?"

"Yeah, we've only gone over it a hundred times. Trinity and I check in as a couple and ask for a room on the top floor, so we can get to the conference rooms and find out the layout, while you get another room and hack the computer to find out the rooms which the investors are staying in so we know where to protect."

"Okay, so I guess you do know it."

"Can we just go now?" I said, my nerves starting to kick in

"Yeah let's get this party started" Both Clint and I stared at Lola who just shrugged and kept smiling. Clint started walking towards the doors and I hurried to catch up with him, dragging the suitcase full of weapons. As he slipped his arm around my waist I tried to keep my breathing steady but I was pretty sure he noticed my reaction and I saw his lips twitch in a smirk. As passed through the doors I gasped and I saw Clint's eyes widen in shock.

"Oh god, whose idea was that!" I couldn't help but agree.

**I am sorry about how infrequent my updates are becoming, I wish I could say that they become more frequent but two factors are slowing me down:**

** 1) I am going away for two weeks; and**

** 2) The next chapters are killing me. You see, I have written a chapter (point B) and I know I have to get there/how I'm going to get there but I just can't write it in a way that seems to go with the story... If that makes any sense... Ahh, I can't write anymore...**

** Words have failed me... Hopefully when I come back I will have written a lot of high quality chapters for you. I hope you are still with me! Reviews are much appreciated *Hint Hint* and, if you couldn't tell, any suggestions as to what could happen next would be _beyond_ helpful. **

**Supernovaserenity: I know! i love Natasha, usually I am a massive Clintasha fan, she is so awesome and badass. Who doesn't love the Hunger Games though, let's be fair! The only thing I dislike is that Finnick did NOT get a good enough death, I mean I get that he had to die and all but it should have been more poignant or something... I'm glad you like Lola, she is definitely the most fun to write. **

**Orca15: Thanks so much, I'm glad you like this sorry about the upcoming long wait for the next chapter. Oh and I just remembered there is a cliff-hanger here... Sorry! Hope this chapter lives up to expectations! **


	25. Hall Of Mirrors

******************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Hall Of Mirrors: Trinity:**

"Oh god, whose idea was that!" I couldn't help but agree.

The walls, ceiling and pillars were covered in reflective glass mirrors.

"Who designed this? This is nightmare for someone like me" I had to agree; being an assassin, who relied on stealth and not being noticed by the target, in a place made of mirrors was not going to be easy.

"We need to keep walking." I muttered in his ear and felt him straighten up beside me.

"Yeah sorry, you're right, let's go."  
Together we walked up to the receptionist and asked for our room. I let Clint do the talking, as I was still nervous. In one of the mirrors, I saw Lola enter behind us. I watched the shock register on her face and then saw her chuckle, after she saw me looking, and mouthed to me 'sucks for Barton'. I smiled too, and then turned back to Clint who practically dragged me towards the lifts.

"Whoa, what's up with you?" he turned and gave me a pointed look.

"The building in which we have to protect 10 high priority investors and may have to fight in is made of mirrors, plus our room number is 666 and 6 is my unlucky number"

"Okay I'll give you the mirrors but I didn't peg you as a guy who believed in luck"

"Well, Dr. Taylor, there's a lot you still don't know about me", I rolled my eyes and stepped into the lift.

"Likewise, Agent Barton." I whispered, still weary of the fact that there was a camera in the elevator.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "Like what?"

I rolled my eyes at him again, "Like… I like to have Cheerios in the morning, for breakfast."

"That so doesn't count. I mean stuff like, you are terrified of spiders or you think walking through doors backwards is unlucky. And Cheerios, really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I have no feelings towards spiders, and…" I paused as the doors dinged open on our floor. I grinned at him and made a point of turning around and walking backwards through the lift door, "Does that answer your question? And Cheerios are great, don't dis my Cheerios."

"Oh wow, we have a rebel over here. Walking through doors backwards, I don't know how you do it!" He teased as we made our way to the room.

When we got there we dumped our suitcases, which contained our suits and more weapons than we were already carrying, and put in our comm. Systems.

"This is Barton, checking in, Lola do you copy, over?" He said into his earpiece.

"I copy loud and clear, but I think I should have a code name too. I was thinking oh mighty hilarious one, but that may be a bit obvious." Her voice filtered through the communication device in my ear. I looked at Barton and we rolled our eyes at each other.

"Yeah, we will work on it. Make it top priority, everyone else can wait…" Clint said sarcastically.

"I guess you could work on it. Trinity can do both, everyone knows that women are genetically programmed to be able to multitask, whereas men struggle to only do one thing at a time." Came Lola's quick response, I snorted in amusement and Clint scowled at me.

"Okay, so we are going to go scope out the conference rooms, are you set up yet?" I asked, trying to avoid the bickering session that looked inevitable after Lola's last comment.

"I am just getting security cameras up now, hang on." She said, and you could hear the patter of keys as she typed something furiously. "Alright, so, all of the investors are staying on the floor below you – my floor. They are in rooms: 521, 523, 525, 527, 529, you get the picture… The rooms in between them are rooms for their bodyguards. The conference rooms are on the 7th floor and are empty at the moment, I control all the cameras so when you're all suited up, you can go"

"Okay thanks Lola" I grabbed my suit and walked towards the bathroom to change, as I turned to close the door I saw Clint take his shirt off and saw the muscles in his back ripple, I realized I had been starting for a bit too long, shook myself and closed the door quickly, trying to stay focused.

A few minutes later we were both ready, and had both decided it would be better to have our weapons with us even though this was just a scouting mission, just in case.

"Ready guys? I have looped the cameras for the 6th and 7th floors so you two are invisible" I looked at Clint and he nodded, his face suddenly professional and unreadable. We walked to the lifts; I tried to hide my nerves and thought I was doing well until Clint said,

"Don't worry, Trinity, this is a routine mission, nothing to worry about" I gave him a weak smile and nodded in agreement.

We then proceeded to go up the stairs and along the corridors towards the conference room. We knew the room would be thoroughly swept for any electronic listening or video devices, so we didn't bother placing any. Instead I took out a small camera and began a video sweep of the room, the footage going directly to Tony and Lola's computers. Clint was going through all possible escape and entry routes, testing the thickness of the glass with some device. I was concentrating hard on the video sweep but I couldn't help but glance over at Clint every now and then, luckily for me he was so focused on the job in hand he didn't notice me looking. Once satisfied with the feed she had, Lola told us to go down to her room.

"Let's go sweetheart," Clint looked at me, and gestured to the door, smirking. I just rolled my eyes and pushed the button to the elevator.

"Do let's…" I mocked back, and he grinned. A picture of the Cheshire cat popped up in my mind.

As we stepped into Lola's room, I stopped and gaped in amazement. She had completely transformed it; there were wide-screen computers up everywhere with holographic floor plan and a 3-D picture of the conference room projected into the living area.

"Damn Lo, you're fast!" Clint exclaimed after admitting a low, appreciative whistle.

"You guys don't get to have all the fun." She shrugged, and then grinned evilly, "though, I must say, you two make a very cute – and suspiciously convincing – couple."

Clint and I just groaned as she laughed (read, cackled) to herself.

"Did you get everything?" Clint asked, back to business.

"Yep, alls good on the southern front. Get it, because I'm below the conference room? Oh I do crack myself up." She began laughing at her own joke.

"It wasn't that funny Lola…" I said

"Or at all…" Clint added.

"Oh hush, you love my jokes. From this data, it seems most likely that they will come in from the entrance, because it is too easy for us to monitor the other places, and I'm pretty sure they think that we won't expect the obvious."

Her thought process seemed slightly convoluted and illogical to me but I didn't bother disagreeing as I saw Clint nod in agreement, I was still so new to this whole thing but I tried to put that out of my mind.

"Anyway, we have two days until the conference to prepare and strategize. Right now I'm starving, I heard Bruce mention something about making a curry he learned to make in India one time. So, let's go."

**Hello my lovelies, I hope you are still with me! I just got back from an amazing trip in Sri Lanka, I recommend you should all go there it is gorgeous. I hope you are still with me because I think I know where this is all going now. I am going to grace you all with two chapters as a reward for your patience. I hope you like them! As always, reviews and feedback are _always _welcome. **

**laurenrulez1: Thank you! I hope you like the next two!**

**Orca15: Thank you so much! I hope the next chapters live up to the high expectations!**

**Marzipan: AH! Thank you so much, okay, so you are right. They are too awesome to be dancing around each other, yet too awesome for them to be together straight out. So there is my dilemma , but don't worry, there will be some more scenes with them soon. **


	26. Hotel Attack

******************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Hotel Attack: Trinity:**

The two days passed in a blur of strategy meetings, weapons briefings from Tony and just a general sense of anticipation for the upcoming meeting. It was decided that Tony and Steve would wait in the room on the same floor as the meeting as they were the most likely to be recognized if they sat in the lobby. Meanwhile, Thor and Bruce would be in a car outside the building monitoring the back entrance, while Lola had the front entrance covered with CCTV cameras connected to her hotel room. Clint, Natasha and I would be in the lobby, the first line of defense if they struck like we assumed they would. I was a little uncomfortable about that as although I was skilled at martial arts, Clint and Natasha were super assassins and I thought I would most likely get in the way. However Clint had assured me that it was the best place for me and I could never really disagree with him when he sounded so genuine.

We were sitting in a tense silence in the lobby on the day of the conference. Well, I was tense and Clint, Natasha and I were silent while Lola kept a running commentary about everything and nothing.

"Oh look at that guy, he looks exactly like Stanley Tucci, he was in the hunger games recently – he was great, with blue hair and everything. That Gale guy looks like a younger Thor, don't you think? I think I would be in District four, they seem awesome, right? But I don't really like fish so that kind of sucks." She didn't wait for any reply, instead just continuing her monologue. "So these bigwigs need to learn the art of subtlety. I mean, seriously? A car with bulletproof glass and two hulking (sorry Bruce) bodyguards? Jeeze, the invitation they are sending out would read: 'Assassinate me, I'm important!'. Oh, wait, satellite images are showing unknowns incoming, they are in a truck or lorry or whatever. The CCTV is showing it is a moving van with a blacked out license plate, stopping in front of the hotel. Show time guys, looks like twenty five, maybe thirty five getting out, fast."

I looked in the reflection of the mirrored surfaces and, sure enough, there they were. Their faces were masked and they were armed. They began to shoot at the man who had just entered the lobby with his bodyguards. We sprung into action as Bruce and Thor reported more arriving out back, an additional twenty, which should keep them busy.

We were fighting everyone that swung at us, but one seemed to appear as one fell. Some had broken off and run up the stairs where Tony and Steve were fending them off, or trying to but they were only just keeping them at bay, overwhelmed by the sheer force of numbers.

I looked over and saw Natasha duck under her opponent, kick out her leg, taking down two opponents at once, yet more just appeared for her to fight as the other two stood. Then suddenly we heard Lola.

"Uh, guys, I know you're busy, but I have company." Lola's voice came through our coms and we heard the battering down of a door.

"No!" I was surprised when it was Clint who called out. I looked at him, and then made eye contact with Natasha and we nodded slightly at each other.

"Go, we will cover you." She said and he nodded, beginning to fight his way over to the stairs with us covering his back.

"Okay, what did Miss Congeniality teach me? SING, got it." Lola mumbled and I heard some shuffling on her end of the com, "Solar plexus, instep, nose, groin! Ha! Beat that mister, Sandra Bullock knows all!"

I hear Natasha chuckle slightly beside me as we fought the still oncoming mass of black clad people.

"Oh no, there are more! Ah, what! You can't do that, that's not fair play! AH!" The last thing we here before the static crunch of her com being destroyed is her brief cry of pain and then there is silence except for the slowing sound of other peoples fights through their coms. Then all noise ceases.

"No!" Clint's cry came loud in our ears, "She's gone! I was too late."

There is a moment of deafening silence as Natasha and I finally take down the last few people in the lobby, Natasha, if possible, hitting even harder than usual after Clint's outburst.

"Lobby is all clear." Natasha said softly into her com.

"Back of hotel is all clear." Came a small voice from Bruce.

"7th floor is clear too." Came Steve's voice.

"So is the 6th floor, because Lola is gone. They have taken her and we are going to find her." Clint declared, sounding more determined than I have ever heard him. I turned and saw him walking down the stairs, carrying Lola's smashed com in his hands, his face pure steel and eyes just as hard.

**Aw, poor Lola. Though it was quite short, I hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully it won't be too long until the next chapter. Keep reading, and reviews are *always* welcome! **


	27. Kidnapping

**Kidnapping: Lola:**

I was watching the screens, monitoring their fights so closely, I didn't notice three of them break away and make their way up to my floor. That is until one of them tapped a motion sensor as they stepped onto my floor. I looked up on my monitor to see them in the hotel security camera, which was feeding real-time footage directly to my screens. I cursed inwardly.

"Uh, guys, I know you're busy, but I have company." I alerted them through their coms as two men in black masks battered down the door.

"No!" I heard Clint's cry as an aside, I was already focused on the two men who were coming towards me as one held back.

"Go, we will cover you."

"Okay, what did Miss Congeniality teach me?" I strained to remember as one of them came at me from behind, "SING, got it!" I felt triumphant as I lifted my foot, "Solar plexus," I elbowed my assailant hard, satisfied as I heard a grunt as the air whooshed out of him. "instep," I stomped my foot down on his as hard as I could, "nose," I whipped my arm up, feeling a slight crunch where my knuckles broke the nose. "Groin!" I felt him crumple behind me and felt exultant, I turned around to look at him, "Ha! Beat that mister, Sandra Bullock knows all!"

I hear Natasha chuckle slightly in my com, it brought me back to reality slightly as I remembered the other people in the room.

"Oh no, there are more!" I groaned to myself, wandering when Clint would come in. "Ah, what! You can't do that, that's not fair play!" One of the men knocks me to the ground and pins me as the other one pulls out my com. "AH!"

The one who I had briefly incapacitated was now up and kicked me hard in the ribs, wounding me. Then, the person who had hung back originally, stepped forward and I realized she was a girl, matching the description Trinity had given me of the one who attacked her in Switzerland.

"Stand her up, you know it is easier that way." She commanded, and the two men propped me up on either side.

She then took hold of one of their hands and we were suddenly a blur of nothingness for about ten seconds before we seemed to land.

"Damn…" was all I could think to say, at first. "So did we just, like, apparate?"

The girl looked at me and just raised an eyebrow. "If it explains things better, then yes. We 'just like apparated'." She rolled her eyes and looked at the two men on either side of me, "Tie her up!"

She obviously was in charge here as they didn't question her at all. I made a cracking of the whip sound and gesture and nodded at her, "Those boys are whipped! Damn girl, you have some power! Also, where are we going?" I looked around and, to my shock and amazement, saw we were on a luxury speed boat. All around us was gorgeous cerulean blue water, in the distance – but coming closer by the minute – was an enormous cliff face.

"Why would I tell you where we are going?" She asked.

"Fair point, I just figured it was worth a shot, you know?" I shrugged, feigning nonchalance, trying to hide the fact that I was paralyzed with fear.

"Why are you so calm? For all intents and purposes, we just kidnapped you…"

"Well, I figure if you walk like a duck, and talk like a duck, eventually you will become like a duck." I saw her confusion and sighed, some people just didn't understand basic logic, "If I pretend to be not scared, I will eventually become not scared. Also, if you wanted me dead, I have no doubt that I wouldn't still be sitting here so whatever you have planned, you need me alive."

"Wow, great… They sent me after a raving lunatic." I heard her mutter.

"So, I don't even get a country? I mean, seriously, it is gorgeous here, there are worse places to be taken…." I said, observing the open waters around me.

"We'll see if you still think that when we get there." She murmured quietly as the men came and tied my hands together behind my back.

Then, suddenly, a rumble sounded as the cliff face in front of us began to open up to reveal a tunnel in the rock.  
"Okay that was seriously awesome, in a national treasure two kind of way, you know? Did that use rock bending or something cool?" I asked, hearing my voice echo eerily through the tunnel. She just waved a small remote in front of me with an irritated expression on her face and I nodded. Great, remote control…

I was surprised slightly when a cloth was forced into my mouth and I felt the tough material as it bit into the sides of my mouth. My mouth became drier as the cloth began to soak up all the moisture in my mouth. I didn't really notice that much though because my surroundings were keeping me busy.

We were in a glass tunnel and above us were floors of what seemed like offices filled with labs and rooms with computer screens and holographic images everywhere. As the rock face slid shut behind us I was surprised when we weren't plunged into darkness, but bathed in an electrical glow of white. As we zoomed along our glass tunnel, I could see it widen into an underground cave-like dock. I was forced to my feet and dragged off the boat. I felt my legs wobble a little and give out beneath me, I couldn't understand why until I saw a woman holding an empty syringe. Before all went black, all I could think was that I was never getting out of here because they would never be able to find this place.

**I am so sorry it has been a while, but I really hope you are still with us! I also hope it will be worth the wait. I can't promise my updates will be as regular but I will try! Did any of you catch the very subtle reference to Grey's Anatomy there? **

**Laurenrulez1: We are trying to write as much as possible! I hope you are still reading/interested!**

**Orca15: Ah! I know! How is he ever going to deal with this? **

**Mushroomking98: AH! That made me soo happy, we based Lola and Trinity on some really awesome people so I'm glad you love them as much as we do! I hope you still love the story and continue reading!**

**Supernovaserenity: Well it had to be done at some point ;) **

**Guest: well, I will now *sheepish smile***

**Carly Carnations: Hawkeye POV coming right up... well... after this one maybe! Ah Trinity, she is rather good at kicking some ass!**


	28. Breakdown

**********************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Breakdown: Hawkeye:**

I couldn't believe it. Lola was gone, and we might not ever find her. I saw the faces of the others as I walked down the stairs carrying Lola's com, but I stared straight ahead, trying to process what had just happened. We all slowly filtered out of the carnage of the hotel, ignoring the confused looks of the customers. I heard Natasha tell the investors to go into hiding, typical. I walked to the truck, still parked outside and got in the passenger seat, waiting for the others. I gave myself a second before I heard the doors clicked shut then focused my mind on planning how to save Lola.

The journey back to Trinity's house passed in a blur as I thought of different possible strategies. I knew I needed to talk to Nat though, we always came up with the best plans together. I could hear the conversations of the others as I thought but it was very subdued and I could see Trinity out of the corner of my eye hands clenched around the steering wheel and eyes fixed on the road. I knew this had to be hard for her, she was still new to all this and her only real friend (as far as I could tell) had just be kidnapped, that's pretty hard. After years of working for S.H.I.E.L.D. I had learnt how to deal with situations like this and I had now recovered from my initial shock enough think about the implications of what had happened.

We decided to go to bed early that night after a silent dinner, made even worse by Rodgers' intermittent optimistic comments which made everyone feel worse. Trinity had barely spoken since we got back to the house, so I waited as everyone else left and as she started to clear the table I pulled her to one side.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"No." was all she replied

"Well that's to be expected, do you want to talk?"

"No, not really, I don't think talking will help." I felt myself relax, I didn't do emotions very well, so I didn't think talking would help either.

"Okay then, how about alcohol?" She didn't look at me but I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yes, and lots."

We walked to the drinks cabinet but, as I was about to open the door, Trinity pulled a key from behind the back and unlocked a door at the bottom that I hadn't even noticed before.

"Keeping secrets from us I see, Taylor."

"This is the good stuff and I don't want Tony anywhere near it, it would be gone in a minute and then my parents would go mental."

"I think you are underestimating how much I can drink"

"Oh no, I'm not, I'm only getting out one bottle and then locking the cabinet, but trust me this stuff is strong enough that to finish one bottle would be very impressive."

Well she wasn't wrong. I took a swig from the bottle and felt it burn my throat, I tried not to cough but couldn't quite do it, Trinity next to me burst out laughing.

"Hey, it's not that funny!

"Oh but it really really is, the hawk can't handle his drink, Lola would have a field day". I felt her tense up against me as she realised what she had said, "If we ever see her again.."

"Don't think like that, we will find her, we're the avengers, we have a god, a super soldier, an obnoxious billionaire, a deadly assassin and well... Me. We will have her back in no time"

"Yeah, but then what, you save Lola and things go back to normal, but what is normal anymore? Six months ago I was perfectly happy doing research to save lives. Now I have telekinesis powers, am friends with the avengers, and have been fighting mercenaries dressed in black while my friend is kidnapped, that kinda stuff just doesn't happen. I'm still not used to any of this and more stuff keeps happening I just can't handle it."  
I could see she was starting to freak out, I was impressed it had taken her this long really, but if I didn't do something fast I knew it was only going to get worse.

"It's okay Trinity, just think, you've been with us for a while now and you have been fine. Lola's kidnapping doesn't change that. We all have to stay positive." I met her eyes and saw they were filled with tears, I pulled her into a tight hug, blocking out the sweet smell of her perfume that filled my nostrils, now was really not the time. I sat her down on the couch and tried not to tense as she lay her head on my shoulder.

"Why did this have to happen Clint, we were winning."

"Life always throws you curveballs, and we get more than most, you learn to deal with it."

"But what if I don't want to live like that?" She looked up at me and I saw such sadness in her eyes I doubted I could do anything to make her feel better.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice anymore, none of us do". We sat in silence for some time, I was in quite an awkward position but after years of perching on roofs in the rain, this was a small luxury.

"Well I may as well get some sleep, we have a lot to do in the morning." I chuckled, a small relapse then back to being practical, just like me.

"Good idea, don't forget to hide this from Stark." I said as she got up and I passed her the bottle. She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back, her happiness mattered more to me than I had thought. I couldn't decide whether or not that was a bad thing. As she left the room I tried to put aside the thought that she was only just holding it together and that one little thing might push her over the edge, and I might not be able to bring her back the next time.

**Thank you for sticking with us! Well, here is the part where I grovel for all reviews, however, what I would really love are your suggestions for how to save Lola, soo review it or PM me any ideas you want to see happen and I will try to incorporate them! Thanks for sticking with me!**

**Laurenrulez1: Thank you! **

**Mushroomking98: I will try my utmost to update as quickly as possible, yet I really need help as I seem to have come down with the dreaded writer's block with Lola *hides face in shame* but thanks for reading and reviewing! Gotta love Trinity!**

**Guest: Whoever you are, thanks for reviewing, and I know! It is all about Clintasha, but I love him so much I wanted him with Trinity just this once, I hope you can be okay with that :) **

**Protagonist of Life: haha yes, that it is :)**


	29. Leaving

**Leaving: Trinity:**

When I woke up, I knew what I had to do, I couldn't stay here anymore, last night didn't change the fact that Lola was gone and I really didn't think we would ever see her again. I grabbed my suitcase and threw any clothes I could find in there and grabbed the picture of me with Dylan that I always kept with me and laid it carefully on top. To avoid the others I opened my window and, using my new powers, floated my suitcase down to the ground. I thought about writing a note but thought better of it, Clint would know what had happened and he could tell them. I ignored the pang of guilt and pain I felt about leaving Clint to tell the others I was gone. He would get over it... Maybe.

As I reached the hallway and grabbed my coat I heard noise from the kitchen but decided not to look in, it would only make leaving harder. Just as I got to the door I heard footsteps behind me and cringed as I heard the voice I had desperately hoped I wouldn't.

"What the hell are you doing Taylor?" said Clint "Why have you got your coat on, and why did you try to sneak past the kitchen? Oh god you're not! You're running away aren't you?"

"I'm not running away, I'm just leaving"

I pushed past Clint onto the front porch, hoping he wouldn't follow me. But of course he did.

"Trinity you can't just leave! What about what I said last night"

"That I don't have a choice anymore well, guess what, I do! I don't belong here, in this world of fighting and kidnapping and secret agents, all I wanted was to find a treatment for Dylan's form of brain cancer, I never wanted to get mixed up in all this!"

"So? I didn't dream of growing up to be an assassin when I was younger, but here I am! Can you honestly tell me you haven't liked being part if this team?"

"Well no... but it doesn't matter! Lola's gone, there's nothing I can do to help and I just want my life to go back to normal!"

"You know your mutation, your life will never be the same! Leaving just puts you in danger, you are protected by being with us!"

"I can protect myself, Barton, I don't need you or any of the others, and as for my mutation, I just won't use it, I got on fine without it before, I can do it again."

"But Trinity we want you to stay, what about the Avengers? What about me?" I paused for a second I hadn't expected that.

"I'm sorry Clint, it's what I want, tell the others I'm sorry but there is nothing you can say to make me stay." I expected to see his shoulders slump, or some other sign of defeat but he just stared at me, his eyes full of defiance. And suddenly he was kissing me, I tensed in shock but then relaxed into it, everything else melted away as I leant into the kiss more. He tasted of coffee and alcohol but it was nice and I couldn't deny I had wanted this for a long time. As he pulled away I could see him smiling.

"Damn you Barton" I said as I walked past him and back into the house and I heard him chuckle as he picked up my suitcase and followed me inside.

**This was really supposed to be a continuation of the last chapter but I forgot to post it then, whch is why it is rather short. I hope you liked it, I gave you a little Clinity :) Next chapter you should be finding out what is happening to Lola... Maybe... Again, ANY ideas are welcome.**

**Laurenrulez21: Thank you! I hope you liked this one, it is a bit short but yeah.. I will try to update soon, I just have to figure out Lola's story line first.**

**Supernovaserenity: I know! I miss her too, I hope she does come back... We will see :)**

**MorWolfMor: Thank you so much for that! It really means so much that you liked it AND took the time to tell me :) I hope you enjoy this chapter... Yeah the angst kinda sneaks up on us as we are writing, I do try to put some light hearted scenes in between so it doesn't get to be too much! **


	30. Methods Of Making Me Talk

**************************************Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**Methods of Making Me Talk: Lola:**

I awoke to the feeling of plastic bindings wrapped around my wrists, attaching my forearms to the cool metal arms of a chair. I opened my eyes which felt heavy and bleary under the harsh white lighting being shone on me. When awake I glanced down at my restraints and uttered a groan as I tried, unsuccessfully, to pull myself free. Realising that it was never going to happen, I used this as a moment to look around the room, it was a plain bright white colour; which was disconcerting as it made me unclear of where the walls finished and the floor began. The only non-uniform object in the room was a black security camera placed in the wall on the right of the outline of what I assumed to be the door. As if to confirm my thoughts, the door swung open to reveal a woman dressed all in black flanked by trusty Raven and two men in surgery masks rolling in what looked like a tray of dentist equipment which also had a couple of large syringes filled with an ominous clear liquid.

"Hello Lola." The official looking woman greeted me warmly, as if we were friends. As if I would ever be friends with someone who was followed around by creepy mask wearing people.

"Hi! That's me, it's a nice place you got here; the clinical white decor you have going on here is a bit of a cliche - which is rather disappointing considering the show I was given on the way in - but I'm sure your interior decorators were busy that day." I said, noting the growing annoyance of Raven with a perverse pleasure, at least if I had to be here I could antagonise her some more.

To my surprise suit lady burst out laughing. "They did say you were a cracker, you are a chatty one which will make this all the easier." She replied, gesturing at the syringes the men were now holding up and tapping.

"Well, I guess I'm going to be here a while, might as well get comfortable eh?" I nodded at my restraints to emphasise my point and tried to hide my fear, "So, what's your name and what's in those ridiculously large needles?"

"Yes, well not that it matters but my name is Barbara, and those needles contain something called sodium pentothal, are you familiar with it?"

"Huh, I knew a Barbara once, she was lovely, though I have a feeling you won't live up to that name. As for sodium pentofall or whatever it is, no I can't say that I have."

"Well, it is, in short, a formula which should force you to tell the truth." She said it sweetly and I winced as the doctors came closer towards me.

"Wow, and here I thought verita serum was just another made up potion, my have I been deluded."

Then, seemingly without warning, the men in masks advanced upon me, one held me down so my struggles were rendered pointless while the other injected the needle painfully into my leg and I winced as I felt it go through the muscle. As the doctor pushed down the plunger I swear I could feel the serum begin to course through my system. Suddenly, without warning, everything around me felt light and all my thoughts and worries were deemed insignificant by my brain. It seemed laughable that these people were the bad people, there was no good versus wrong, only lies versus the truth, and of course I would tell the truth. There was also a small voice niggling at the back of my mind, telling me not to answer her questions.

"So, to begin we are going to ask a few control questions. Your name is Lola Rowes, correct?"

"Yes, that is right."

"You are 19 years of age."

"Yepp, and have been for the past year."

"You are part of the avengers team?"

"Yes."

"Okay good, we can now begin. Can you tell me how much the avengers know about our organisation?"

"No, I cannot"

"Excuse me?"

"We collect more information on your so-called 'organisation' every day, I can say honestly (as you know it must be because of this verita serum you have me on) that I cannot give you an honest answer on how much the avengers know about your organisation."

While these questions were being asked my mind was working faster and faster as the lightness brought on by the initial exposure to the serum wore off. I still felt the urge to speak the truth, yet I knew in my mind that I didn't want to. I was fighting against it but it was getting harder the more I tried.

"Do you know who runs this organisation?"

Suddenly a scene from Shrek popped into my mind, everyone knows the scenes with Pinocchio are the most confusing. Got it! I just had to tell the truth in the most convoluted way so then she will get pissed off and not notice when the serum runs out, making me able to lie.

"I can't say that I don't know, yet saying that I do would not be a complete lie, you see I could say that I believe that I don't know yet you would never know if what I am saying were true or not."

"What?" The lady in the suit's fake smile turned into a frown.

"I said... I can't say..." but then I was, rudely, cut off by Raven.

"Oh my god, don't ask her what? She will just answer the same thing over again." Then, before I could blink, she was right in my face, and in her hand was a knife which she proceeded to press against my cheek. "Listen, and listen good Lola. You answer these questions or I get to give you more than a scratch to your pretty little face. Then what would your precious avengers do?"

I gulped at the thought, my mouth feeling dry as I felt a trickle of blood run down my face from where the knife had sliced into my cheek. The taste of copper in my mouth from the cut strengthened me as I looked up at her and hissed.

"My so called 'precious avengers' will do what they were named for, they will avenge me and in doing so they will burn your _precious_ organisation to the ground. So ask me your questions, you know as well as I do what I just said was true, so try me. You have been warned."

I smirked at her, she looked at me through narrowed eyes before winding back her arm and punching me as hard as she could in the stomach; the pain made me momentarily see black before subsiding to a sharp throb as stars flew around my eyes.

"Big mistake Rowes. Why would anyone want to save you? Not after what happened to Annabel."

I stiffened at her name, staring straight down at the ground, realising that hunching was the only way not to aggravate the pain in my abdomen any further. Now _that_ was her mistake. She will not use Annabel against me, I will survive for her. I promised. I will hold my silence, just until they get here, I don't have the strength to get out on my own. Not anymore.

**Hello my lovelies, I am so sorry this has taken forever, I have had so many essays to write. I hope you are still with us, I have the next one almost written... Key word being almost, I'm just telling you so you don't leave and decide I am a flake! As for this chapter... Well, any guesses as to who Annabel is? Any ideas on how Lola will escape/be rescued? Ah, all in good time *mysterious smirk***

**supernovaserenity: Ah I have those lazy times all the time... Hence the late update I suppose... I'm glad you enjoyed it, I know I was super excited it finally happened. Ah well, it probably will be a while until she finds out... Being tortured tends to put you behind on gossip, don't you hate it when that ****happens? **

**EnyaandEathenyl: Thank you, it really means a lot! I hope I haven't stressed too many people out with how this story is going now...**

**Theta-McBride: I know! He is so sly, gotta love him. Thank you for reviewing, I hope you keep reading!**

**Alive Through Writing: The number of times I have to tell myself that is absolutely ridiculous, but it makes me soo proud to know that you enjoy the story so much! I hope you keep reading it!**


	31. No Plan At All

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I don't own the Avengers.**

**No Plan At All: Trinity:**

Clint and I decided it was best not to tell any of the others about what had happened, we both knew Tony and it was fair to say we knew nothing good would come of it. I, on the other hand was more afraid of what Natasha's reaction would be. I knew that they were just friends, I had heard her tell Tony enough times, but still she was scary and I was pretty sure she wasn't my biggest fan. I had definitely come to regret my 'I'm not so sure comment' but I was almost certain she wouldn't do anything to physically harm me, almost. However I managed to put all that to the back of my mind and couldn't help smiling as I walked to my room, I knew things were bad with Lola still gone but I couldn't deny that it had cheered me up.

The next morning Clint acted like nothing had happened, so I followed his lead, but I did notice him catching my eye more than usual. I tried hard to hide my satisfaction at this but, obviously didn't do that good of a job because, as soon as Natasha walked in she took one look at me, then gave Clint a piercing stare; it wasn't a glare but I would have been very uncomfortable - to say the least - if she had shot that look at me. However Clint had no problem facing it and kept his face as unreadable as ever. We did not get another chance to talk as we spent the rest of the day going over and over where Lola might be. On finding nothing, we worked well into the night and early hours of the morning before collapsing in our beds at dawn. Upon waking up, I went down for breakfast to find Natasha and Clint already there, having a conversation in some other language, though they went quiet as soon as they saw me.

The others came in not long after and as soon as everyone had finished eating, it took some longer than others, we set to work coming up with a plan to save Lola. Steve was quiet through most of the process as he was still deeply upset about the loss of one of his team and Thor was obviously finding it difficult to follow as we named different places she might be around the world. Tony looked up all of Evans' known company locations and used satellites to scan for any unusual activity in those areas but we got nothing.

"This is useless!" exclaimed Tony after 3 hours of searching.

"We can't give up Stark you know that. There must be something."

"We've been looking for hours Rogers and I hate to break it to you, but we haven't found anything, I always knew Evan's was a sneaky one."

"Just keep looking, please." His tone was worried, almost pleading it was so unfamiliar to Steve of all people, and really showed the desperation we were all beginning to feel.

"Don't worry Steve, we won't stop until we find her."

Before Tony could interrupt with an unhelpful comment, both Clint and Natasha's phones started ringing, they took one look and then in perfect unison announced:"Fury wants to talk."

I saw Tony shoulders sag visibly; him and the commander weren't the best of friends and it didn't help matters that he was already in a bad mood. Fury's face suddenly appeared on the large computer screen in front of us, his one eye staring hard at each of us in turn.

"I am afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stop your investigation of Aileen Evans' operations, your actions have not gone unnoticed - by anyone - and we must stay inconspicuous in this matter."

"What?" Clint spoke up indignantly "You just expect us to leave Lola out there, she's not trained for this and she is part of the team."

"I am fully aware of the situation, thank you, agent Barton. I am merely asking you to postpone your investigations," before anyone else could interrupt he continued, "I am also aware of the, shall we say, independent, nature of this team; so as of now I am cutting off all connection to the internet from Trinity's house, and you are also not allowed to leave the house, I trust that agents Barton and Romanov will make sure that doesn't happen?"

They both nodded, barking out a synchronised "Yes Sir."

Earning them a scathing glare from Tony

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Bruce asked, looking disgruntled at this change of events.

"Whatever you want, providing you remain within the house. I am sorry that this delays Lola's rescue but it is necessary and these measures are only temporary, although Stark, they are still to be taken seriously." And with that the screen was black and he was gone.

"I'm not fully sure what Fury meant by all that but this means we can no longer help Lola?" Thor asked, we all nodded slowly and everyone started to trail dejected out of the room, leaving me and Natasha alone. My day was just getting better and better.

We were left in silence, which she seemed to feel no desire to break as she walked slowly to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug of coffee. After this, she took the mug over to the open liquor cabinet and pulling out some rum and pouring a considerable amount into her coffee before replacing the bottle and turning to face me. I quirked an eyebrow at her, questioning. Her gaze was steely and cold enough to make her Russian ancestor's shiver.

"So, you and Barton, huh?" I didn't even try to deny it, merely shrugging noncommittally, to which she tilted her head, continuing "I am only his partner, which you doubtless know, so there is nothing romantic between us. Though I realise you sometimes would feel threatened by our close friendship - if that's what you would call it - so this is me saying, don't feel threatened by that. However, do not for one minute think that you can hurt him and I will not respond. I will destroy you in more ways than you know how if you hurt him."

Throughout her threats she had stalked towards me until we were practically nose to nose. I couldn't help but feel completely intimidated, yet if life had taught me anything; it was to not display fears to those who wish to provoke them.

So I merely nodded, "It will not be me who hurts him, and if I do I do not doubt that you will carry through with your threats." She seemed to consider me after that, looking me up and down and nodding. I took that as encouragement as I began to speak again, "That being said, I don't even know if this is what we both want, so could you please keep this to yourself for the time being?"

She laughed and stepped back, it was an odd transformation for her to go from being threatening to laughing all in a second. "I am not going to tell your secret, that's your burden. It is odd that you two ended up... Together... I always thought that he had a bit of a thing for... Ah nevermind, I suppose not."

Now I was burning with curiosity over who she could be talking about, and just as I was about to ask, the doorbell rang. We looked at each other, confused, before rushing to the door. The others fell in suit behind me, all of us on high alert as we went to greet the unknown caller. No one but SHIELD knew we were here so who could it be because we had just spoken to Fury. I opened the door with my mind and we all gasped in surprise and alarm as before us stood a very pale and tormented Lola.

"Lola!" We all exclaimed as we rushed forward.

"Miss me?" She grinned dazedly before her eyes rolled back and she passed out, Clint just managing to catch her before she hit the floor.

**I hope you are still with me, my dears. I hope you enjoy this chapter, the next one will fill you in on Lola's side of how she got back to Trinity's house. Until then, I am begging you (none too subtly either) to carry on reviewing and reading! Again, any ideas that you think ****_Hey! Wouldn't that be so cool if this happened? _****Do not hesitate to PM or comment it. **

**Theta-McBride: Thank you so much for your lovely comments as always, and yeah... Poor Lola, you will get more of her in the next chapter. Please keep reading and leaving any kinds of reviews!**

**Supernovaserenity: Ah yay, your officially back! I know, who is this mysterious Annabel? Any guesses? You will have to wait and see, she is very important to Lola's history that is all you will get from me right now! **


	32. Escape

**Escape: Lola:**

My head was lolling forward, my hair forming a greasy shield to cover my face. I had given up struggling against the plastic ties that bound me, knowing that I needed to preserve my energy before the next bout of 'questioning'. I heard light footsteps approaching the door and it opening quietly, I didn't even bother looking up at whoever had come to check my pulse, which they had been doing at regular half hour intervals, at least they wanted me alive. That probably explained why I was surprised to feel a slight sawing by my wrist before it suddenly became lighter, quickly followed by the other. Then I realised they hadn't become lighter, simply unbound. This caused me to look up and I saw a girl who looked vaguely familiar but my brain was too slow to immediately know why.

"Lola, you need to get out of here now!" She said in an urgent whisper, her eyes wide with worry as I just stared at her. "I put the tapes on a loop so they won't see you or me, but the guard changes in 10 minutes so you need to get out before they notice you aren't here! I'm going to set up a decoy explosion in another part of the complex so they won't be in the garage when you get there. Lola!"

I just kept staring at her, feeling hopeless and listless, wondering what the point of escaping when they would simply find me again.

"I'm so sorry about this, but you need to snap out of this" she said, then slapped me hard across the face, her eyes pleading my forgiveness and my cheek smarting at the shock.

"Ouch! Jeeze! You didn't have to hit me that hard!" I exclaimed. She smiled in relief.

"Oh good, you're back! Okay so you need to leave and get as far away as possible, I have limited ability to help you, here" she hands me the pen knife she used to cut me free, "now if you get caught you are on your own, but if you get out call me on this number, I need to get out of here too."

"Wait!? Raven, she can apparate!" I cry desperately, still trying to understand what was happening.

Her brow furrowed in confusion, then recognition flashed in her eyes "She can't materialise to places she has never been before, or if she doesn't know where you are, she won't get you.  
Now go! There are cars with keys in the garage."

Then, almost before I could blink she was sprinting off.

"Wait! What's your name?" I whisper-shouted after her, my voice hoarse.

She span to face me right before she turned the corner and with a mysterious smile said "Robin."

Then she was gone. I wasted no time, closing the door behind me and rushing along the maze of white corridors until I saw what I was looking for: a big vent. I knew there must have been an intricate system of them to get rid of excess heat as they had situated themselves underground. I pulled open the pen knife and, flipping to the screwdriver, managed to unscrew the vent lid from the wall. I then had to lift my arms and rest them inside the vent as I tried to pull myself up and into the vent. It was like getting out of a swimming pool at the wall, but much harder as the bruises and gashes along my abdomen and the rest of my body were not helping the process. With one final effort I pulled myself up and then pondered over the issue of how to put the vent cover back up so no one would notice the hole in the wall. As I clutched my knees panting at the pain and effort used, I saw my heavy docs and began to unlace them. I reached out and pulled the vent up and tied both shoelaces to them and placing the actual shoes further away so they balanced the weight of the vent lid, keeping it in place. As I crawled away I knew that leaving my shoes wasn't the smartest ideas but i didn't have much time, I had estimated that my 10 minutes were almost over and paused to gather my strength as I reached a forking, I put one hand on the side of the venting of the left fork and felt for the vibrating which would mean there was a fan at the end, on feeling it I went to the right. There was no way I was going to escape only to be turned into chopped Lola. I followed the venting system along for a while, trying not to make any noise, which was no easy task when i could still barely breathe, and knowing I had to keep going or else I would pass out from the pain. Then, just as I turned to see another vent cover, I felt the vents vibrate and heard a deafening boom from somewhere far behind me followed by a wailing siren and running boots.

"Decoy indeed." I said to myself as I peeped through the vent and saw a deserted garage, I turned and kicked the vent cap off with both feet, wincing as my stomach muscles clenched and my bare feet clanged against the hard metal. I was grateful for the siren as it meant no one heard the clatter of the vent or my feet as I ran towards what looked like an armoured range rover. I got in and buckled up and then I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass. I had gashes along both cheeks and some bruising around my eye where Raven had gotten frustrated, my face was deathly pale and my cheeks looked hollow. I couldn't help but think how annoying it was that movies don't prepare you for how you look after a week of being tortured and with minimal food. Then I snapped out of it and put the car into drive. I drove out of the parking area and up a ramp and suddenly, I was above ground. I didn't have time to enjoy the cerulean sea off the cliff face as I knew it was only a matter of minutes before they noticed I was gone. I floored the pedal and raced my way to the nearest village, noting from the multiple flags I had seen that I was probably in Greece. I saw a small town on my horizon and stopped about half a mile away, right on the edge of the cliff, leaving the car in neutral. I checked the back of the car and found a get away bag with roughly 700 euros in it, there was also some glucose supplement packages and a first aid kit. I tossed the phone of the cliff and, using all my might pushed the car the half metre it needed to tumble off the cliff. I walked away before it reached the bottom, the explosion I heard behind me proof enough of its destruction.

I then began to walk quickly towards the village eating the glucose as I walked, to try to keep me standing, I almost threw up as my stomach was so unused to food but mind over matter and all that, I stepped inside the first drugstore I saw, grabbed some antiseptic wipes and bandages as well as some strong concealer. I also got a power bar and some water, not sure if I'd be able to stomach anything more after the glucose. I paid and went to the local shop where they were selling cute t-shirts and jeans but most importantly, a pair of sneakers. In the changing room, I quickly cleaned up my face, only wincing slightly at the burn of the antiseptic wipes as they went into my cuts. After bandaging my face and other various cuts, getting dressed, putting on concealer and deciding I looked slightly less disturbing, I went to the internet café I had scanned across the road and quickly hacked into it, not having time to pay. I thought it was too dangerous to call the avengers to come and get me when I was still so close to the enemy base and knew if I contacted them that is exactly what they would try to do. So I looked up cargo planes leaving the nearest airport, I knew I couldn't get a regular charter plane as they required passports and money, neither of which I had time or resources to acquire. Then one to England caught my eye, the next one was leaving in 3 hours to London Heathrow. Perfect. I glanced around the town at the limited choice of vehicle, I then spotted a fairly inconspicuous one and made my way over to it and found it unlocked, small towns are so cute. I hopped in and ducked down as I investigated the wires under the steering wheel, snipping the right one and sparking them together to start the car. The engine rumbled and I peeled out of the town, hoping they wouldn't notice until it was too late, I felt bad about stealing the car, not really my style but needs must. I followed the road to the main highway where I met my first challenge, the signs were in Greek and my heart dropped, I can speak 5 languages fluently and i have to be stuck in a country with a language I don't know. Then I saw the symbol of a plane and thanked whoever invented universal symbols. I followed the road all the way there, ditching the car in parking and scrambling to the side of the relatively small airport to the barbed wire fence enclosing the area. I found a piece which was slightly broken and sawing with the pen knife cut through it successfully and was through but I grazed my side when I slid underneath and just prayed it wouldn't start bleeding as I used all my bandages. I checked my hand where I had scribbled the plane number and looked up, scanning the tails of the cargo planes, spotting it and darting into the open hold just as the doors began to close. Fifteen minutes later and we were in the air, an hour later and I was freezing, thank goodness there was only half an hour left of the flight, then I could sneak off.

The landing was very bumpy, I had to clasp onto the straps holding the crates that were so wrapped in plastic that I couldn't tell what they had inside. On the opening of the hold I hid behind the furthest crate as the unloaders dealt with the one by the door. When the group of men had disappeared I made my move, creeping off the plane and into the main building, straight underneath and to the car parking. I then went to the taxi rank and hailed a cab, I told them Trinity's address and collapsed in the back. The driver looked at me skeptically, poor thing, I can only image how much of a wreck I looked but he started the car anyway.

On arriving, I hopped out and said, "Yeah, my friends will pay you, hang on." I hobbled up the drive, my energy fading fast as the adrenaline wore out.

I rang the doorbell and heard the steps approaching swiftly.

"Lola!" They were all there, faces white with shock. Or was it horror?

"Miss me?" Was the last thing I remember asking before the last vestiges of adrenalin filtered out of my body and I felt all the pain and strain flow back into my body at once, and collapsed.

**I hope you enjoy our christmas present to you! I hope you are all having a great holiday and reward me with some lovely (or any, to be honest) reviews! **

**Supernovaserenity: Ahh soo many unanswered questions, some have been answered (I hope) here, and the others will be revealed... eventually! *mysterious smirk* **

**Camierose: Thank you for reviewing! I hope this chapter answers your questions... or some of them anyways! **


	33. They Know

**They Know: Lola:**

I woke up to find myself staring into a familiar yellow room, much more pleasant than the last time I woke to the stark white paint on the walls except there was an odd beeping noise coming from somewhere near my right ear. I close my eyes again, sure that I was hallucinating... again. They open, nope, the room is definitely still yellow just like my room on the helicarrier. Flashes of being carried to a car and then a being on a helicopter briefly appeared in my memory as I tried to recall how I had arrived here. I try to sit up and speak, I need to tell them where the base is! But then I fall back with a hoarse groan, there was a pain in my cheek as whatever wound was there stretched open slightly, and my stomach felt as though I had gone through another intense training regime ful of sit-ups with Nat.

"Hey there, careful now." I looked up to see Bruce hovering over me, checking my vitals on the machine, which I now realise was making the beeping noise. "I'm glad you're up, had us all scared half to death! I haven't seen Barton this anxious since... Well, you know. He hasn't left the room except for just now to shower."

"How long?" I manage to croak, my throat feeling like sandpaper.

"Were you unconscious?" Bruce asked moving to help prop me up on some pillows as he tipped some water down my throat. "Only two nights."

My eyes widened and I heard the machine start to beep as I panicked, two nights? That could be enough time for Eileen to have left her camp and we would be back to the beginning again: with nothing! I had to tell them everything. "We need a meeting, I feel fine." I lied, gritting my teeth as, even as I said it I felt a sharp pain shoot up from a some wound on my chest as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.

Bruce stopped me instantly, "We can wait a while before we do this Lo, it doesn't need to be now."

I just glared at him, rolling my eyes "Yeah because she is just going to give me time to rest and recover." I felt bad for being sarcastic, but we both knew they needed this information. "Look, just... I don't know, give me some pain meds and get someone to carry me to the communal area, I don't want to be stuck in here all day."

Bruce heaved a heavy sigh and nodded, typing in some digits onto the keyboard to call through to the common room where he asked for Steve to come. I smiled, content that I had gotten my way, when Steve walked in looking immensely relieved to see me up. He scooped me up and I winced slightly but tried (unsuccessfully) to hide it.

"You know," I said conversationally, as Steve carried me bridal-style along the corridors of the helicarrier, "I think I should get tortured more often if I get this kind of instant obedience." He winced and I gave a slight laugh which ended with another grimace of pain. "Too soon?"

To which he did crack a smile as he looked down at me and smiled, "I'm glad you are back Lola. It is definitely not the same without you."

"Well, duh! I am, like, the comedy centre of this group! Without me, you would be as boring as drying paint." I said as we walked into the main common room and he deposited me gently on the sofa.

"Well Ms Rowes, I beg to differ." Stark's comment came with a relieved smile as he squeezed my shoulder gently, "I am definitely more fun than drying paint. However, it is good to see you up."

"Lola!" Thor came rushing in, only to be stopped by Tony, Steve and Bruce who stood like a human shield around me, "I see, fragility, I remember!" and then they stepped away as Thor knelt down and kissed my forehead softly, "I am glad you are alive and well Lola."

Then Trinity came over to me and gently squeezed my shoulder like Tony did, giving me a small smile and telling me that she was happy I was fine. Nat's welcome was quite similar, but she pecked me on the cheek and whispered "I think we need to give you more training than Sandra Bullock gave you." To which I laughed quietly and nodded.

Finally Clint came running in, gave me a once over with his eyes and sighed in relief, before coming to sit next to me on the sofa taking my hand in his and beginning to give me a massage. When everyone was seated I began to run through what had happened in a blow by blow account; as painful as it was, I didn't leave out anything except for Annabel. As I spoke of Raven's treatment of me I felt Clint's hands still momentarily on my own. I took that as an opportunity to switch hands, hey! I was milking this kindness for all it was worth! I continued telling them about Robyn and finished with passing out in London. "And now, here I am!" I looked around and everyone looked extremely somber.

"We need to alert S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury" Said Natasha, at once standing to go. The others all followed suit but Clint, whose hand I clasped anchoring him to the sofa. The others looked at us and nodded in understanding, Trinity looked mildly confused and surprised but left nonetheless.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He said as soon as they were all gone.

"Clint, there's something I didn't tell the rest of them." On seeing his questioning look, I continued, "They knew about her, they knew about Annabel."

His face went pale, as his eyes widened, "But how could they possibly?"

**Hello my lovelies! I hope you are still with me, I am so sorry it has taken forever to update, I just kept forgetting to post it! I hope you enjoyed this little tease of a chapter, I promise that the next one will give you some more real information, I just needed a filler in between. I can't promise to update too soon because my life is becoming even busier but *I hint oh so subtly* reviews do make me update faster *wink wink nudge nudge*, Thank you for reading and following!**

**Camierose: Thank you for reviewing! I hope you enjoyed this tease of a chapter, and continue reading/reviewing!**

**Maruaderlove: Ah, well I can't give anything away but trust me when I say I doubt you will expect what will happen next in the romance department…. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**CaileeChaos: Thank you for your comments, they were very entertaining, hope you like this chapter!**


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